


CrimeTale: The Stuff of Dreams

by GoodGrief



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Crime / Mob AU, Organized Crime
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-15
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-13 14:29:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 50,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28779813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GoodGrief/pseuds/GoodGrief
Summary: In the Free City of Ebott, The Dreemurr Crime Family has ruled with a fair but firm paw for many years, espousing the rule of Honor Amongst Thieves, and allowing a place for those with questionable but useful talents to provide for family and friends.But with Don Asgore's and Queenpin Toriel's ever-growing reach, plots are undertaken in shadows, and through misfortune, a dangerous new LOVE-inducing drug is leaked into the city.With time running out and more and more of the city descending into anarchy and chaos, the Dreemurrs to find a way to salve what remains.And find just who is behind it all.
Relationships: Alphys & Undyne (Undertale), Asgore Dreemurr/Toriel
Comments: 7
Kudos: 4





	1. Enter the Dreemurr Mob

**Author's Note:**

> Aaaaaand we're back!
> 
> After about a year's absence, I figured it was about time to give the whole writing thing another go.
> 
> So, a quick disclaimer; I don't know whether or not there already exists a CrimeTale AU of Undertale, though given the amount and variety I've seen I wouldn't be surprised if one does. That said, this story is not based on any existing AU.
> 
> Also, previous readers might remember the... extended period of time in between chapters getting realized, something something laziness something something work something something.
> 
> Well, I'm glad to announce I've been working on this story for a while now, and while I haven't written it to completion, I do have a few chapters ready to go. The plan is that I'll try and aim for a new chapter each Friday.
> 
> With that out of the way, I hope you're ready and willing to join us on a seedy crime drama of power and betrayal in the seedy underbelly of the Free City of Ebott!
> 
> DISCLAIMER: Undertale and all characters are the property of Toby Fox

This world is one of endless possibilities, for those with the strength, determination, wit and will to seize them.

Kill or be killed.

Sink or swim.

Be free or be ruled.

Steal or get stolen.

This world is like one giant smorgasbord of wealth, opportunity, and power for those with the means to take it. For some, this is unacceptable, gathering into communities, building cities, and forming laws with which regulate their lives after, the puppets never realizing the strings they have put on themselves, or who they have handed them to, trading their freedom for security bit by bit.

Yet, the world still brims with those choosing to live life according to their own rules, as well as those who would follow them. Powerful souls leading the way to a new paradise or ruination, whatever comes first.

One of these was the legendary Don, Asgore Dreemurr, The Grandest Thief alive, so-called for his ability to paw whatever he desired despite his prodigious and conspicuous size, but also for the grandness of his soul and charisma, brilliant enough to gather a mob of thousands of monsters and humans behind him. While those outside his gang might decry the great monster as nothing more than an over-glorified mob boss, those within it would often agree; 'Yes, but for the best cause imaginable'.

For while Asgore's mob would look very much like a motley gang of thieves, larcenists, and scammers, laws still applied to them, enforced by Asgore's iron paw, but softened by tenets that united; ' _There is no greater virtue than caring for friends and family. There is no greater crime than not doing your utmost to do so'_. For these, Asgore's mob, doing their utmost was what others would consider criminal. Some, like the Don himself, had never known another lifestyle, while others had fallen into it with time, discovering and realizing questionable but useful talents.

When Asgore's gang had at length grown too large to keep organized on the move, the roving mob settled into a small city, nestled beneath Mt. Ebott, rich in gold and minerals, in a region contested by many neighboring states and kingdoms, all with equally flimsy claims and all equally furious at the boldness of the great Don that they themselves had lacked. Several times, the neighboring countries had tried to evict the mob, through force of law, but Asgore's spies, thieves, and blackmailers ensured that the Don had more than enough dirt and ammunition to bury each of them in scandal should they make a move.

It was said by some, that despite all the riches and artifacts The Grandest Thief alive had pilfered and purloined over his long career, it was the thousands of followers willing to share in his dream that were his greatest prize ever.

Thus, Ebott had flourished for years, a city of thieves but also a city of freedom, somehow managing to stay more idyllic and peaceful than more lawful cities – ensured by the rulership of the Kingpin and Queenpin of Crime, Asgore, and Toriel, espousing the idea of 'Honor amongst Thieves' in full effect.

But even so, not all within Asgore's mob share the sentiment.

* * *

One warm summer night, just off the usually packed beaches of Ebott a creaking ship dropped anchor. A sizeable 2-master, with a rudder magically enchanted to sail at top speed in any weather and climate, and with sails showing the symbol of a Froggit's head above a set of crossed sabers.

The rapacious pirates of the Foulfroggit Freebooters had come to Ebott.

A shortish figure made his way across the deck. Amidst the gaps in the jacket and pants of an 18th century naval officer entirely too large for the wearer, one could see hints of the cephalopod monster underneath it all; the tips of tentacles could be just barely seen reaching out of the sleeves and wet, glowing yellow eyes shone from beneath the brim of the tricorne hat.

The infamous Captain Keelhaul.

The squid captain rounded on one of his crewmen crouched over a poor unfortunate tied to a chair, his hands at work on a devious deed on the captive's face.

"Arr, that be some mighty fine work, mister Wobbles" Keelhaul said in a voice as deep and wet as the ocean itself.

"Why, thank you – I mean, thank ye, capt'n!" the crewman beamed back with pride.

"Arr… but it be not what I meant when I said 'give the captive a lashing'!" Keelhaul snapped, slapping a tentacle towards the prisoner in the chair, wide-eyed in amazement at the luscious eye-lashes the crewman had spent the past hour giving her.

"Bu-but boss! – I mean, capt'n! I-I thought-"

"Thought what!? That ye would turn our little nest egg into some fey waif!? We be supposed to ransom 'er, not put her through a fancy cruise thru' the seven seas!"

"But… I spent so long on it…" the crewman sulked. Despite his misgivings, Keelhaul had to admit the makeup was well done. Even with the captive's look of disbelief, each blink of her eyes looked incredibly bashful… which only served to infuriate him even more.

"I don't care how long ye spent on this malarkey, ye bilge-brained fleabag! I wouldn't tell ye 'good work' if ye built a fort worthy of a king when I asked ye to make a secret hideaway either, scallywag!"

"Wow, you guys aren't just a bunch of clowns, you're the whole circus" the captive in the chair suddenly butted in with a dismissive chuckle. "Just you wait till the Don hears of this. He doesn't take too kindly to kidnapping and ransoming on his turf"

Keelhaul turned away, each appendage of his tentacle-beard quivering with pent-up frustration.

"By thunder… even a bound'n'tied landlubber be makin' fun'o us now…" he seethed, stomping over to the railing to look down on the main deck where the rest of the Foulfroggit Freebotters were looking up, scared stiff at the anger of their diminutive, but no less dreaded captain.

"Every blasted day it be another thing with ye worthless lot. I tell ye to sweep the poop deck, you go and clean only the toilet seats. I tell ye to use grape-shot on the cannons and ye go and stuff all the fruit down our smoothbores! I tell ye to stock up on supplies and ye go and get a hold-full of rum only! What did ye think we'd be eating on the way; rum soup with a side of rum washed down with rum with rum for dessert!?"

The crew muttered in collective embarrassment, pulling their shoulders and kicking their feet. One red-faced individual stepped forward, paws wringing in trepidation "but Captain, all this pirate lingo and fancy words, uhh, well, they don't all make a whole lot of sense to some of us, I mean, what the heck is 'grape-shot' anyway?"

"Y-yeah, like, I don't get portside or starboard either, I mean, can barely remember what's up and down most of the time!" Another one chimed in.

"And why does the water out on the ocean taste so salty? You can't drink that stuff, even if you cocktailed it with rum! What gives!?"

Captain Keelhaul ran a soggy tentacle across his face, hiding his look of immeasurable disappointment "Stars above, here I thought I had meself a hoary crew'o fierce'n'brave swashbucklers, but put ye all together and ye'd barely make for a milksop cabin boy without his sea legs. I's bet none'o ye could rig a bunt gasket 'round a master jigger to save yer worthless hides"

"Aww, boss…"

The Captain slapped a dismissive tentacle in the air, turning back to the face the crewmember that had initially stoked his ire.

"Ye know how to use a cellphone, Mister Wobbles?"

"Y-yes, capt'n!"

"Something at least" he sighed "Give that monkeyshine Don Asgore a call, tell 'im we got a ransom an'-"

" _Through fiercest wind and gales of cold, a song of justice will now unfold, so surrender now, lest you fail, and become a mere footnote in Ebott's tale"_

A river of icy water ran down the Captain's back at the sudden, growling and distorted voice cutting clean through the night wind. The stories of the vigilante of Ebott were known to everyone within the underworld, a masked monster who hunted down everyone that took their crimes to far, even for Ebott's standards.

"Well, blast me broadsides and call me leaky, can't even slap me own crew around without someone takin' offense" he groaned and looked up. Around him, his crew was faring with far less composure.

"No way! I thought we'd be safe out at sea from him!"

"It's a bird!"

"It's a plane!"

"What are you twats talking about!? That's-"

" _THE VIGILANTE!"_

At the mention of the name, a bolt of lightning struck from the skies, illuminating the ship and revealing the intruder. Standing atop the mainmast, clad in dark robes and cape, and with a swirling white cloud for a head with angry, flaming, almost reptilian-looking draconic eyes. The figure's arms were crossed, standing completely still despite the buffeting winds and the waves rocking the ship, it's flaming gaze cast on Keelhaul. It pointed a finger down at the captain

 _"Keelhaul! Judgment comes from the skies, surrender now, and give up your prize!_ "

"Go suck an egg ya scurvy landlubber! Ye must be three sheets to the wind if ye think ol' captain Keelhauls' just gonna let some son of a tem-lover hornswaggle him without a fight! Men'o mine! Draw yer weapons and blow that scallywag down!"

Keelhaul's command had an instant effect on the scared crew. As if a spell was lifted from their minds, they turned from horrified and gibbering to roaring with newfound courage. Each crewman pulled a blackpowder weapon from their inventory and as they aimed upwards Keelhaul took a small degree of satisfaction in the briefly panicked look on the Vigilante's face at the small armory worth of weapons suddenly aimed at him.

As if trying to outdo the thunderclouds above, the cacophony of the unleashed weaponry was enough to actually buck the ship to the side. A few of the crewmen even fainted on the spot, the sound too much for their delicate senses.

Keelhaul was briefly thankful for the foresight of having his crewmen's weapons magically imbued by back-alley enchanters in Ebott to never have to reload, something that would otherwise be a problem with the aesthetically fitting blackpowder weapons they were packing. His joy turned sour, however, when he noticed the first signs of the low-quality magic of said back-alley enchanters. With each discharge of the guns, a small puff of glittering, magical gunpowder was released into the air before falling down, and already the deck looked like it was covered in glitter from a kindergarten arts and crafts project.

Above them, the Vigilante was avoiding the hail of gunfire effortlessly, jumping from pole to pole, leaping from mast to mast, and rappelling down the rigging with the agility of a monkey but the grace of someone trying to avoid getting shot.

The effect on the ship was another torn in Keelhaul's side – each shot that didn't hit the Vigilante hit something else instead; wood was splintered, the sails were covered in holes and even some of the thin ropes in the rigging had been severed by stray bullets.

"Would it kill ye walking sacks'o shark bait to try AIMING!?" he barked at the crew, eliciting a fearful wail from the nearest ones.

"B-boss! We can't hit 'im! We ca-"

"That's 'Captain' to ye, ye bilge-sucking barnacle!" Keelhaul shouted back, launching a swift kick to the whimpering sailor's behind hard enough to send him flying overboard.

Above them, the Vigilante was almost half-way down by now and Keelhaul groaned at his crew's continued abysmal accuracy and the damage it was doing to his ship. He was about to launch into another rant on them when a sudden realization hit him; just below the Vigilante was a stretch of the mast with only one real spot for him to hold on to, a small wooden mantle.

Easily destroyed.

He dipped a tentacle into his coat and retrieved his own pistol – a much finer specimen inlaid with gems and golden tentacles enchanted to wave and wiggle when used.

"Let's see ya get outta this ya smoke-faced monkey" he hissed as he took aim.

The Vigilante kicked off an outstretch of the mast, spinning and turning through the air, right over another hail of gunfire and dove at the mantle, but just as his paws were a few scant centimeters from reaching it, it exploded into a shower of wooden fragments and splinters, sending him flying back into and sliding down the mainsail.

Keelhaul grinned, only slightly annoyed that he couldn't hear the Vigilante's yelp over the cheers of his crew. Despite being dumber than a bag of rocks he figured even they would have little trouble finishing him off once he crashed onto the deck.

A sudden light bade him look up again and immediately the triumphant thought was banished. The Vigilante had a flaming sword plunged in the sail, using it to slow his fall but still coming at them quickly.

This time even the crew was aware enough to understand the trouble they were in. With all the magically-charged gunpowder spread over the deck, the Vigilante was practically a lit fuse burning down on a giant, ship-shaped bomb.

A bomb they were all standing on.

"OH NO OH NO OH NO!"

"Abandon ship! Rum and me first!"

"Ah crap, I'm allergic to fire!"

Keelhaul seethed with rage, seeing the descending Vigilante as the blade of a guillotine coming down to chop his dreams of pilfering booty in half. Finding a few-centuries-old ship and actually getting it seaworthy had cost him pretty much all he had. Now he was about to lose it due to shoddy enchantmenship and his crew not knowing a crosshair from a nosehair.

He raised a tentacle up, enveloping himself in a magical, watery shell as his crew ran past him and dived over the railings, the last ones just barely making it as the Vigilanter reached the deck.

The explosion was loud and bright enough to wake up the Ebottians living near the coast and powerful enough to summon up a wave in the water that picked up the floundering crewmen and carried them towards the beach.

Keelhaul let the fires roll over his watery shield, the flames themselves an apt metaphor of just how raging he was inside.

He saw a figure approach him through the fire, The vigilante, unharmed by the flames and still wielding his fiery sword, pointed directly at him. In the light of the fires, he could see that his robes were not entirely black, rather a dark shade of purple, and that dark lines ran from the smoky eyes to the back of the head.

The challenge was clear and Keelhaul roared in fury at it, shattering his protective bubble and extinguishing the nearest flames.

" _You ship has sailed, Keelhaul, lay down your weapon and spare us both the brawl"_

In an act of defiance Keelhaul did the exact opposite, unsheathing a cutlass with a roar of anger. The Vigilante went into a low stance, ready for an attack.

 _"Your crew has already faced a watery drop, but as long as you're armed you're going to be harmed, so lay down your weapon and give up!_ " the mysterious monster commanded.

"OH FECK OFF!" The Captain shouted back "Who in blazes do ye think ye are, coming here and ruining an honest pirate's livelihood!? This is Ebott, the laws state we can do what we want, ye lard-headed lily-livered lump licker!"

" _The laws of Ebott lets you provide for kith and kin, not an excuse for every conceivable sin"_

"Hell's bells, would ye STOP. TALKING. LIKE. THAT!"

* * *

**Captain Keelhaul!**

_Captain of the Foulfroggit Freebooters._

_Soul of Marquis_

* * *

Keelhaul lunged and stabbed his cutlass forward in one swift move. The Vigilante easily deflected the thrust to the side, turning on his heel with the movement into a spinning elbow that ultimately ended up throwing him off balance as it knocked the squid-captains hat off and sunk into his soft, cephalopod-flesh.

Keelhaul easily shrug it off, slashing his cutlass at the Vigilante again, this time, with more luck, as despite the smoke-headed individual's best effort to jump back, the cutlass managed a good cut on his leg, enough to send a spray of blood unto the deck.

Keelhaul grinned maddingly as he advanced on his foe. It was impossible to read any kind of expression on the smoky texture of the Vigilante'ss face, but the sheer fact he was now limping slightly was evidence enough he was hurting.

It made him hunger for more.

"I'll cut ye to the brisket, ye whale-loving spit drinker!" he said as he lunged forward again with a stab. This time, the Vigilante tried chambering his cutlass, knocking it aside with his fire-sword and then using the wind-up for his attack. The Captain just barely managed to duck under a slash that would have cut into his shoulder, feeling an uncomfortable tightness as the heat from the sword dried the skin on his head. He looked up just in time to see the fire-sword falling down on him again, but before it could he whipped a tentacle at the Vigilante's smoky eyes with a splash of salt-water.

As expected, the Vigilante gave a grunt of surprise as he was suddenly blinded and backpedaled in a hurry. Keelhaul didn't give him room to breathe and he quickly followed with a swift kick to the Vigilante's mid-section that sent him over the railing and unto the gangplank. He got up as fast as he could, but when he finally managed to get the salt water out of his eyes, his vision became red with pain as he felt Keelhaul's cutlass strike his arm, making him let him of the fiery sword and letting it fall into the water below.

"Arr, what a sad display, I been hearing nothing but tall tales about ye and the havoc ye been causin' folks like me, yet ye didn't last a minute when crossing blades with someone with more than a mop for a brain" He jabbed the cutlass into the Vigilante's chest, drawing a drop of blood and making him retreat to the end of the gangplank.

"Ye been a right pain in me soggy arse, I'll grant ye that, but I figure I'll have hooligans and ner-do-wells aplenty lookin' to sign on me crew once I return with yer head"

The Vigilante was silent, paws slightly raised, but didn't even seem the least encumbered by the myriad bleeding cuts he was sporting.

"Think ye got the gift of gab, huh? Well, here's a short shanty for ya, afore I send ya off to the locker. Here's me cutlass, it can stab, it can cut, it's going down yer throat and out yer butt!" Keelhaul declared and reeled back for the killing blow, already enraged even further by the lack of pleading and groveling on the Vigilante's part. No matter. He could already imagine the fame and fortune that would come with killing him, just one blow and-

A smallish hand suddenly tugged on the shoulder of his sword arm from behind. Keelhaul immediately responded, spinning on his heel and turning the slash that would have killed the Vigilante on whoever was behind him.

"Not now, curse yer eyes! Can't ye see I'm about… to…" The captain's words trailed off in confusion as he found there was nothing behind him and sword only found empty air, snuffing a few flames out with the woosh.

"What in blazes…" he muttered before the extent of what he had just done dawned on him. He turned back as fast as he could, cutlass raised to finish the job that had been interrupted, but the moment he stood and faced the Vigilante fully was the moment said face got a flying knee into it.

And for the first time in a long while, Captain Keelhaul experienced something else other than seething anger and bitter disappointment – a measure of peace as he fell to the deck, unconscious.

He barely had any time to lay down, however, as the Vigilante immediately scooped him up, carrying him on one shoulder, before dashing through the flames towards a hostage with strangely alluring eyelashes screaming at the encroaching flames.

Although the rest of the Foulfroggit freebooters had initially been thankful for the sudden appearance of the wave that had carried them to safety on the beach, their joy had quickly turned sour once they found henchmonsters and goons in Don Asgore's employ waiting for them. Some of the crew had tried fighting back and make a run for it, but once they realized that a living legend was among them, they had almost begged to be put in chains.

Undyne, Asgore's chief enforcer, called 'The Spear of Injustice' by some, marched through the ranks of the kneeling crewmen, all cowering in her presence, the only sign of life from her being a single blue flame in the visor of her spiked armor. She favored each of the crewmen with a short look before moving on, as if she was looking for someone in particular and each of the crew let out a sigh of relief once she moved on from them.

The story of how Undyne entered into Don Asgore's service was well-known. Many years ago, she had been at the head of a small but tough gang that roamed around, causing mayhem and beating up anyone and anything that looked tough; innocent bystanders, guilty criminals, bulky robots, even wild animals. Once news reached the young brawler that one of the world's most infamous crime bosses was in the area, Undyne had immediately set off, declaring that she alone would punch, kick and bite her way to him and then punch, kick and bite him until he admitted she was his superior.

The scuffle that followed proved quite damaging to the reputation of Asgore's mob, as news spread of how a single youngster had punched, kicked, and bit her way through some of the gang's toughest goons, all the way to the Don himself. What served to somewhat repair the reputation was The Don's answer.

Undyne had kicked the doors to Asgore's office open. Cut, bruised, winded, and tired but still with a fire in her eye. A fire that had turned cold almost immediately, for there, bound and tired in front of the Don was the rest of her gang – her friends and followers, each with an armed henchmonster standing over them ready to end their life, whom Asgore had somehow managed to locate, kidnap and brought to him in the time it had taken her to get here. The Don himself was dressed in his Sunday's best, a simple red polo shirt with flowers and summer shorts. But despite his attire, the offer he gave her was anything but casual.

The Don made his impressions clear, that he could use someone with strength like hers in the mob, but also that strength alone could be as much a virtue as a vice. He gave the young brawler-fish a choice; either she could leave with her friends and forget the kerfluffle ever happened.

Or, should she choose to attack him, he would not fight back – the result thereof being that Undyne could claim the title as the toughest monster around for beating him.

But should she do so, her friends would follow the Don into the grave, leaving her with her title… but nothing else.

The third choice, the one that had led her to where she was now, was to simply join him and put her skills and talent to greater use than simply causing mayhem, the Don promising he would find work for her own gang as well.

It had taken some time for Undyne to understand why the Don hadn't simply forced her to work for him on pain of death of her friends, but it had come to her. Over time she had understood that Asgore wasn't in this for the money or fame or power. The currency most valued by one of the greatest crime bosses around was trust and friends. That, and his utter revulsion for anyone who would ever sacrifice it for material gain or renown.

It was a revelation that had fostered great respect and undying loyalty to him from the fish-monster. Some people even speculated that the strength granted to the gang by her, as well as her unbreaking devotion to his ideals made Undyne the greatest prize the Grandest Thief Alive had managed to nab.

Even though the crew of the Foulfroggit Freebotters wasn't exactly known for their smarts or wits, all of them knew that to raise a stink while The Spear of Injustice was around to smell meant getting a spear up their unmentionables.

The calls and shouts of some of Asgore's henchmonsters near the water drew her attention. A lifeboat had beached, bearing the Vigilante, the Captain of the Foulfroggit Freebotters and a wide-eyed, oddly alluring victim still tied to a chair.

Undyne merely waved a hand and immediately the goons around her picked up on the unsaid command. The captain was put in chains while the hostage was taken to safety. Without a word to each other, the Vigilante and Undyne walked away from the rest of the gang, going behind a large rock on the beach, out of sight from the rest of the henchmonsters.

With the Vigilante's head obscured in smoke and Undyne clad head-to-toe in armor, it would normally be difficult for either of them to get a read on one another, but even then, judging from his low shoulders and submissive posture, it was clear the Vigilante was on the verge of squirming.

"So, you went and did it anyway, alone" the cold voice of Undyne escaped from her helmet "Despite how dangerous it could be, despite when I **Explicitly told you** I would handle this you still went ahead"

"Well, it worked out in the end, didn't it? No one was hurt and-"

A hard, metal-clad hand snapped out to deliver a crude slap to the Vigilante, hard enough that whatever was obscuring his head faded away, revealing a white-furred goat monster, still with black lines running from his eyes.

"No one got hurt!? Are you high, kid!? Look at you, you look like you've spent all day hugging knives!"

"It… looks worse than it is" Asriel shrugged.

"Yeah!? I don't know what crazy luck it is that keeps saving you, but Keelhaul was seconds away from turning you into goat fricassee!"

"Maybe that wouldn't have been so bad…"

"ASRIEL!" Undyne shouted, stomped forward and grabbed the goat by the hem of his robe "Listen here ya putz, I know ya got problems and I know you feel the only way to deal with them is being a hero or whatever, but you're still the Don's son, damn it! You can't keep putting yourself in danger like this, one day your luck will run out and that's that, you've already had your second chance and I doubt you'll get a third. I mean, come on! I really, REALLY don't want to knock on Asgore's door one morning and go "What's up? You know Asriel, your son we thought died but recently came back? Yeah, he's had a relapse!' don't you dare make me do that you little twirp!"

"Shut up!" Asriel angrily snapped and shoved her hand aside "You don't understand, none of you do. I have to do this, because, If I don't it's… the voices filling my head to burst, those angry accusing eyes, the claws trying to drag me down to join them" He hissed through gritted teeth. "I can't even stand thinking about it. So just give it a rest, will you?"

"… Asriel, you-"

"Yeah, yeah, don't worry, I'm going home" he said and turned away, leaving the scene of the burning ship, the Foulfroggit Freebooters, and the exasperated Undyne behind. He half expected a metal gauntlet to land on his shoulder and spin him around for another earful from The Spear of Injustice, but thankfully, he was only met by the noise of Undyne growling something to herself before marching back to her henchmonsters.

Yet barely a second passed before another figure appeared before him. Translucent, casually leaning against a wall but still with a look of easy worry. As ever, the ghost of Chara was both a comfortable presence for Asriel, but also a shameful reminder.

"Well, she only seemed slightly miffed this time around" he said teasingly, cocking his head to the side.

"I guess"

"Really? That's all you got? 'I GuESs' what about 'Thank you for the assist, Chara' or 'thanks for saving my life, Chara!' or 'Nice work distracting squid-face so he didn't make dinner for two out of me!'"

"Thanks"

"Oh my god, Frisk and Undyne are so right, you're a real mopey-dopey, you know that?"

"Chara, I don't wanna do this right now"

"Do what!?"

"THIS! Like we do almost every single time!" He snapped at the ghostly human "Forgive me if I don't dance all the way home, hugging every migosp and kissing every moldsmal along the way, but last I recall one of use spent nearly a decade forced to kill innocents while the other is remembered as a hero who sacrificed himself out of love!"

"Neither of those things were your fault" Chara added calmly.  
"Or maybe both were"

"Bro, c'mon"

"No, Chara, just-" Asriel said, taking a second to compose himself. Almost every time it ended up like this, and every time his heart-necklace growing cold on his chest was another reminder of Chara's displeasure.

"Just… don't. We managed to save someone today, so we can probably get a quiet night's sleep at least"

"Seems like a lot of work to just get some shuteye"

"It's been half a year now. Better get used to it… I don't know if it will ever end"

Chara made to respond but the quickly departing Vigilante made her stop, worried, crimson eyes following the cloaked figure as he left the beach.

Even so many months after his death, the reason for his ghostly state was still a mystery to Chara. While there were several monsters that could be described as spiritual in composition, it was practically unheard of for humans. His favorite and most wholesome theory was that it was the bond between siblings that kept him tied to the heart-locket he, Frisk and Asriel all carried. After all, it is the duty of the older sibling to look after the younger ones, and nothing as trivial as death was going to get in the way.

But still, all was clearly not well. Even if Asriel's dispirited behavior weren't so abundantly clear, the empathetic link he shared with him through the locket told him everything he was feeling.

Barely anything more than a lost soul in a churning black sea, and like the burning ship of the Foulfroggit freebooters on the horizon he was slowly going under.

* * *

"Well well well, I must say, I think I'm starting to understand why they call you 'The Determined Child'" The flabby prosecutor said, taking a brief pause to stick a fat cigar into his mouth, take a drag and puff a thick cloud into the face of a subordinate beside him.

"We've been sitting here all night, fencing and riposting with arguments and counter-arguments, and really, for someone so young, you've done a commendable effort" He took another drag and puffed it into the face of the same subordinate who was quickly getting blue-faced, before flashing a grin that revealed smoke-yellowed teeth.

"But it's about time we bring this case to an end. The evidence is conclusive. Clearly, Ebott is illegally built on ancient Kordian ground – as these pictures suggest" he waved an arm at a wall where a projector was showing a film of humans, including the prosecutor, standing in front of old-looking pillars, with the cityscape of Ebott all around them.

"That being the case, the prosecution demands that the so-called 'Dremurr Mob' immediately hands over any and all items, resources and artifacts their illegal presence have churned up to the state of Kordia, along with a fine of 20 Billion G's"

The droning murmur of the jury filled the court hall for a few moments before the loud bangs of the gavel of a gray-haired judge imposed order.

"I see" The venerable judge began "If I may, maybe 20 billion is a bit… excessive to demand of what can only be surmised to be a criminal gang, don't you think, prosecutor?"

"Your honor, the only excessive aspect of this case is the Dreemur Mob's blatant disregard for the laws and customs of the land. They trample over important historical sites, build their hideouts dressed as cities without a permit and cause crime-rates to sky-rocket everywhere around them. Is it to the benefit to all law-abiding and good citizens that these delinquents, thieves, and ruffians are expelled as expediently as possible"

"Quite so, quite so" the judge nodded along before turning to face the prosecutions counterpart

"Now, does the defense have anything further to add?" the question clearly heard by everyone in the court, except, it seemed, the defense itself.

Frisk stood, wide-eyed, wearing a fine purple and striped suit and skirt, slowly extracting a lollipop from her mouth with a loud, wet 'Plop!'

"Uhh, Ms. Frisk? Are you quite alright?" The Judge asked.

"Yes, your honor, it's just… I think I've finally figured it out" The amazed and stunned voice of Frisk answered.

"Y-you have?"

"Yeah… I've finally figured out the meaning of the saying 'Be there or be square'"

"I beg your pardon!?"  
"Yes, you see, if you're not there, you're not 'a-round'! You're a square!"

"Uhh, well, I have… never really thought about it that way" the Judge groaned "But if you don't have anything further to add to the case, I believe I am ready to hand down a verdict"

"Hold it!" Frisk suddenly barked, slapping a hand down on her desk "It ain't over 'till the fat lady sings, and I only see absolutely curvaceous and stunning women in here!"

Another bout of murmuring seeped from the jury, with several trying to hide blushing faces.

"Enough with the theatrics, Ms. Frisk" The flabby prosecutor said "Stall if you must, but I think we both know this can only end in a verdict that rhymes with 'stilty'"

"Not a chance, underpants. The only things wearing stilts here are your shoddy arguments, and I'm about to knock 'em down!"

"You're bluffing!" The prosecutor hissed.

A coy grin formed on Frisk's face as she tilted her head over, letting shadows over her closed eyes

"I can do much, much more than just bluff" she quietly said before stabbing her sticky lollipop down on a document on her desk, causing it to stick to, and lifted it to her face so she could read.

"Prosecutor, you mentioned earlier that you yourself went with the crew that took the pictures currently on display, correct?" She asked.

"As the film shows, yes"

"Then, may I ask, how did you get to Ebott in the first place?"

The prosecutor cast a quick glance at his subordinates before giving a casual shrug "I drove"

"By car?"

"That's usually how you drive, little Frisk"

"Sure… but usual cars don't normally drive across barren fields and wilderness, do they?"

"W-what do you mean!?" The prosecutor gasped.

"Your honor, allow me to show you an aerial map of Ebott" Frisk's voice boomed. Up on the wall, the projector started showing a cityscape from above, with the ocean to the north, the Mountain range of Ebott to the east, and green wilderness everywhere else.

"As I'm sure the more eagle-eyed members of the court can see from this map… there are no roads leading to Ebott, meaning unless the prosecution got their hands on some cross-country vehicle capable of crossing rivers, hills, and crags, AND took with them enough gas for a 78 kilometers journey, this being the distance to the nearest non-monster settlement…" the picture zoomed out until another smaller city came into view, far away from Ebott.

"… the prosecution's photographic evidence cannot possibly be real!" Frisk concluded. On the opposite end of the courtroom, the prosecutor recoiled as if struck in the stomach, doubling over and heaving for breath.

Immediately, the droning murmuring resumed. Debates and conversations over Frisk's revelations raged, and even all the way down on the floor of the court Frisk could hear how the Jury's opinions were turning.

"Order! Order in the court!" The Judge demanded, before turning accusing eyes on the prosecutor. "Is this true, prosecutor? Have you dared bring forged evidence into my court?" The judge warned.

"Of-of course not! There's a- there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for this!"

"In that case, do tell"

"Well, y-you see, it's like this…" The prosecutor began, red-faced and wringing his hands, eyes darting back and forth between his subordinates for ideas. Suddenly, one sprang to mind and despite his prodigious size, the flabby prosecutor performed an impressive jump.

"Ah! Yes, of course, now I remember! We took a ferry to Ebott and THEN drove from there!"

"You took a ferry? That is quite an important detail to omit, Mr. prosecutor"

"A thousand apologies, your honor. It's been a long night and a hard case, I fear it's starting to wear one me"

"Hmm, I suppose that makes sense" The judge nodded, turning to Frisk once again.

"Well, does the defense have a response for the prosecution?"

"Is kissing Pyropes bad for your face?"

"I'm sorry?"

"That's a yes, Mr. Super-honor" Frisk declared, crossing her arms and fixing the prosecutor with a confident gaze "You say you took a ferry to Ebott, correct?"

"Indeed, I did!"

"And you're absolutely certain it was a **ferry**?"

"That's what I said, you little brat!"

"Huh, in that case, maybe I was wrong about you, Mr. Prosecutor. I had taken you for being only a little bit slimy. You know, a few under-the-table deals here and there, a few thrown cases, maybe even a kicked dog or two, but no, you're actually neck-deep in the smuggling business, aren't you?"

"I- what? What in the world are you talking about!?" The exasperated prosecutor gasped, face as red as a tomato dipped in red paint.

"It's like you said earlier; Ebott is not a city, it's a hideout **dressed** as a city. There aren't any ferries going in or out of there" Frisk surmised.

"Of course there is! Just look at the stupid map you have on the screen! You can see boats coming and going!"  
"Oh, sure, but I presume we're all aware just what kind of city Ebott is, are we not?" Frisk coyly grinned at the prosecutor "There aren't any, shall we say, 'normal' or 'regular' ferries coming or going into Ebott. It's all smuggling, either stolen goods or, in your case, dirty lawyers with criminal contacts"

"My- you… how dare…" The prosecutor hissed, nearly frothing at the mouth.

"And, as I'm sure you are aware, as per stipulation 45-7 §12 of Kordian law, criminals can't serve in a court of law" Frisk finished.

A stunned silence fell over the courtroom, the only noise being the ragged breathing of the prosecutor and the quiet whisperings of shady-looking men sitting in the shadows behind him.

"How… dare you, a little brat, still wet behind the ears… spit your baseless accusations around like this…!" The prosecutor managed.

"That's because I have a burning sense of justice and no shame!" Frisk declared mightily.

"Wha-"

"Here's how I see it!" Frisk said and jumped onto her table "Either you never went to Ebott and the film you showed before is forged, meaning the next time we see each other in court it will with you as the defendant and not the people I love! Or, you actually went there, through criminal means, which would invalidate your entire case and mean that you have violated the trust put upon you by these people gathered here, and put an end to your career as a practitioner of law! That's why I was wondering whether you were round or square before, but in the end, it doesn't matter if you were there or not. Round or square, you're all slime!"

The Jury slowly began clapping and a great cheer was building. In the skies above the courtroom, the morning sun broke through the clouds, casting a shaft of light down through the skylight, enveloping Frisk in angelic brilliance.

"As lawyers, we either take on the mantle of punishers of the wicked or defenders of the innocent! The powers and trust granted to us are meant to safeguard all that is good about our ways of life! We are meant to be a bulwark against evil! But for you the ideals of justice have been bought with gold and promises of selfish gain, haven't they!? That Prosecutors Badge on your chest is as cold and dead as the fire of justice that should have burned within your soul!"

"I… I can't…" The prosecutor wheezed unsteadily on his knees.

"No Justice! No Dream! No Hope is left in you! There is only one guilty person here, and that…" Frisk whipped her arm behind her before launching it forward in an accusing finger pointed straight at the prosecutor's heart.

"… IS YOU!"

The force of Frisk's accusation swept across the courtroom with the strength of hurricanes. The prosecutor was sent flying back, screaming all the way, papers were scattered to the winds and the heavy, oaken table he had stood by was toppled over as the force of Frisk's conviction swirled around, even blowing out a few windows.

The prosecutor slammed into the far wall and slid down "Such justice… too powerful… I am… defeated…" he groaned as his eyes rolled back in his skull, unconscious.

The cheer that had been building amongst the jury exploded in rapturous applause, all cheering the name of the young paragon of justice standing on her table, hands on her hips and bathed in the glory of the sun "FRISK! FRISK! FRISK!" they chanted.

Even the Judge, an old veteran of many decades was affected. So glorious was the display of youthful idealism and justice that tears seeped down his wrinkled face and he found he could barely muster the strength to lift his gavel or call for a verdict. All that came from him was a voice choked with joy he hadn't experienced since his earliest days as a young student in law school, and as he looked around the room he knew everyone present would grow to become better persons, set by the Supreme Justice in Frisk's example.

"Not g-guilty, not guilty! Oh my goodness, the monsters of Ebott are not guilty!" He mustered, stating the obvious, he knew but never before had he felt so sure about a verdict.

* * *

The great applause Frisk had incited in the courtroom continued well after she had left it, following her through the halls of the building all the way out to the exit where a group of Asgore's henchmonsters stood ready with a car.

They fanned out to hold the nearly ravenous Jury and spectators of the trial back, but even still, Frisk expressed a small giggle as paper planes made of love letters, fan letters, and requests for her autograph followed and flew past her. She picked up a few and made a mental note to add them to the collection at home. For some reason, many of her cases and trials ended just like this, with the entire courtroom inspired and incited by her performance.

She took a small measure of pride in it, but to Frisk, what mattered most was that another threat to the safety of her family and city had been removed.

She turned and gave one last wave and bow to the crowd that had followed her from the courtroom before turning back to the car, stopping in her tracks as she noticed a figure casually leaning against it.

A shark monster, dressed in a white shirt underneath a vest, one half covered in ocean-blue silk and the other in emerald green, and black business pants. His smooth, marine-like skin combined with the fine clothes made for an undeniably attractive monster, and while he wasn't as wide as the Great Don himself he was still broad of shoulder and easily as tall, an image of robustness, strength and resourcefulness perfectly fitting the great businessmonster around which Ebott's biggest, and only, legal corporation was built around.

Even his name, Stormstahr, was usually enough to get people's attention, whether they found it intimidating or ridiculous, and as he stepped away from the car throwing his arms to the side and flashed a coy smile at Frisk, revealing rows of sharp, shark-like teeth set in such a handsome face, she could easily see how he portrayed the supple grace and exciting danger of the apex predators of the planet's ocean he so resembled.

"You never fail to impress, Ms. Frisk. Our little lawful heroine, our little minnow in the big ocean, surrounded big much bigger fish yet still dazzling all with her brilliance, letting her love for our not-so-fair city carry her ever higher. What is it now, the 8th, 10th time I've seen you leave a courtroom followed by crowds enthralled by your performance?" He said with a chuckle "You really are too good for us"

"Oh, I don't know about that" Frisk shrugged "I owe everything I have and everything I am to mom, dad and Ebott. I'm just happy to help out any way I can"

"And that's what sets you apart from the norm, why they call you 'The Rising Star of Ebott'" Stormstahr declared in a grand voice "Most people nowadays can't even be bothered to give a kind word without expecting a handout. But not you; the always giving, always magnanimous Frisk. Honestly, if you ask me, you deserve way more than you get"

"I like to see what I do as giving back to people who have already given me so much. The warm feeling I get in my tummy after a good days work is more than enough"

"And none can fault you for that, all I'm saying is, you shouldn't let your gratitude become a shackle. The Dreemurrs didn't take you in because they wanted a workhorse, it would be a shame to have you waste your life away on these endless trifles" Stormstahr waved a hand at the building behind her "There will always be opportunists and people with bones to pick with your parents who will try and undermine everything they've built, and it's only going to get tougher, especially seeing as how you refuse to have your father help you forge evidence or use any of the mountains of blackmail he has on practically everybody"

"That would be wrong" Frisk blurted. The bluntness of it made Stormstahr laugh.

"Hah! That's why I've always liked you, Frisk. We see eye to eye on these matters"

Frisk reciprocated the chuckle, widening her smile "Is that you're doing what you're doing as well? You've always been a bit of a mystery, Stormstahr, I mean, who comes to one of the few places on the planet where most crime is allowed and sets up a **Legal** business when it would be so much easier to just do what everyone else is doing? Seems like a massive handicap"

"I guess great minds and kindred souls think alike" Stormstahr warmly suggested, tilting his head and smiling in a teasing manner that for a second made Frisk's heart flutter and a slight blush form on her cheeks.

"And that brings me to why I am here" the great shark-monster continued, taking a step towards the human and digging a hand into a pocket on his vest.

"Frisk, despite how, honestly, amazing you are at whatever you put your mind to, some people might not take kindly to how you're standing up for Ebott. Some might think it downright hypocritical for you to talk about justice and serving the common good when everyone knows Ebott is a criminal haven"

"By their definitions, perhaps. To me, Ebott will always be a place where people can be whatever they need to be to care for family and friends"

"I see your father's idealism has rubbed off on you. Just as well. What I'm saying is, you're putting in a lot of work for, I feel, very little gain"

He withdrew his hand from his pocket, now holding a small business card which he handed to her.

"I'd like you to come work for me" he bluntly stated "I can offer you so much more than an endless battle of lawsuits. I can offer you a place where you can realize your full potential! No more pandering, no more having to contend with bought prosecutors and filthy lobbyists. To say nothing of the salary, I always take care of my employees"

Frisk tenderly took the card, turning it over in her hand. It had her name on, citing her as a 'Corporate Attorney' for Stormstarh holdings. She couldn't decide whether to amused by the confidence he must have had in printing a card like that before even giving her the offer, or put off by the presumption that she would immediately accept. She was silent for a few moments before she spoke, muling it over in her head.

"I don't do this for the money, and… I don't know, it almost feels like turning my back to-"

"Nonsense" Stormstarh scoffed before she could finish "Your father lasted for decades without ever setting foot in a court of law and honestly, I doubt he ever will"

Frisk looked aside, dragging her arm in a conflicted manner. Stormstarh easily noticed her doubt, kneeling down and placing a hand on her shoulder "Listen, you don't have to give me an answer just yet. Just know, all these court cases and trials you're doing for your parents? Asgore has enough clout and blackmail to settle each and every one of them with a single phone call. All those hours you use peering over legal documents and battling in the courtroom is really just saving your dad 5 minutes of work at most. I understand you, though, you want to take care of your family the right way, no blackmail, no cheating, just ideals and wit battling ideals and wit. That's what I'm offering you, a place where you can do just that. Think about it" Stormstahr said, flashing his shark-like grin and giving her an affectionate squeeze on the shoulder before rising back up and turning back to his car.

Frisk mulled over the card in her hand, reading, but-not-really-reading it. Maybe there was a better use of her talents, she mused. But, as her stomach growled in hunger, such decisions were best made on a full belly and by now, she knew her mom would be just about ready with breakfast at home. Matters of employment and professions were important, but family always came first. Those were the ideals upon which Ebott was founded.

She looked up, seeing Stormstarh giving her a short salute as if saying he would expect a call from her in the near future, before disappearing into his car. Truth be told, while she found the shark-like business monster alluring and exciting in a dangerous kind of way, something about the cold nature of the business air around him always put her off.

Matters for another time, she concluded and stuffed the card into her pocket, turning back to her dad's henchmonsters ready to take her back to Ebott and breakfast courtesy of the best cook and mom to Frisk's mind in Ebott.

* * *

"A beautiful sight, is it not?" The Great Don Asgore rumbled, overlooking the vista of Ebott from the great wall-sized window in his office "It took me a lot of sweat, dust and sacrifice to get this far, and I've lost many good humans and monsters along the way, people I miss every day and probably will for the rest of my life" he turned from the window and fished a large stogie up from an ornate cigar box on his desk "But I like to think I can at least honor them by keeping the dream of Ebott alive. It takes discipline, order, and no small amount of tough love" He lit the stogie, puffing a sweetly-smelling cloud out towards another monster sitting across from his desk "Don't you agree?"

A small, weasel-like monster, nervously fidgeting with his tail squealed back "S-sure thing, boss! We sure are lucky to have you!"

Asgore snorted in derision and took another drag before calmly rounding on his desk towards the weasel "Which brings us to why you are here. You see, barring any crises, and let me assure you, this isn't one, there are only two reasons I would call a fourth-tier officer like you to my office; either you have greatly impressed me and are to be rewarded, or…" he took another drag, letting the smoke seep from between teeth set in a knowing frown "… you have greatly displeased me"

The weasel shrunk further into the chair, the color seeming to drain from his fur.

"I like to see myself in the peripheries of both sides" Asgore started up again "I am not an easy monster to impress, but likewise, it's going to take some doing to earn my ire" He sat down one leg on his desk and rested an arm on it "I'm sure you have probably figured out by now why I called you in, hmm?"

The weasel was almost completely pale-faced, lines of sweat running down from his brow.

"But before I cut to the heart of the matter, a question for you. You've been with the mob for some years now, so you ought to know this; what is the dream of Ebott? Why did I create this place for people like us?" he put to the weasel, throwing his large arms up as if to encompass everything around them.

The weasel-like monster looked around in confusion for a few moments with a wild look in his eyes before stammering out an answer.

"W-well, Ebott i-i-is a place where you can do whatever you want, r-right? I mean, we can't go against you, the boss, of-of course, but aside from that, i-it's just a place where there aren't any laws, right? Whatever you want, as long as it doesn't mess with the boss, right?"

A threatening rumble escaped the Don's cavernous chest as another puff of smoke escaped him "'Just' a place where you can do whatever you want?'" he quoted.

"Oh crap! I mean- I mean I didn't mean it like that! It's a great place! Not many like it, a true haven of-of opportunity and possibilities and-and all that!" the weasel hurriedly fired off.

"Hmph… your blatant disrespect for those who gave everything so you could have 'just such a great place' aside, I must say, I find your answer severely… lacking"

"Lacking? Wha-whaddya mean!?"

The Great Don sighed, the smoke billowing from his nostrils coupled with the red glare of the rising morning sun and his own prodigious size and threatening appearance almost casting him as a demon to the weasel in the chair, who could only cower before the Don's disapproval.

"Yes, and in the same manner I find most I ask these days, sadly. It's a new era… or maybe I'm just getting old" he got off the table and advanced on the weasel, casting a deep shadow over him.

"Oh, it's true that there are barely any rules here in Ebott. Anyone with the right skills and right ambitions can foster them to their hearts content here" Another drag, the piercing green eyes of the Don almost seemed to glow as he looked down on the weasel as a giant might look on an ant.

"But to what end?" he exhaled with the smoke.

"Wh-what?"

"Oh come now, Ebott might be largely lawless but it isn't anarchy. You must know why most crimes here are allowed. The keyword being 'most'"

"Boss… I-I… I'm sorry, I'm so sorry…" the weasel whimpered, but the Don wasn't finished.

"I made my fortune by thieving, and trust me, once you've spent a few decades going from lifting pockets to breaking into vaults you learn something about the true values of what really matters here in life. You ask yourself 'why?' what's the ultimate goal for all of this? It's not like a normal 9-5 job, no, you spend almost every waking moment planning, preparing, and stealing, always having to contend with the law and rivals, always having to look over your shoulder, all too often for measly gains. So why, I ask you? Why do we put ourselves through all that?"

The weasel monster looked about ready to burst into tears in fright "I, ah, I dunno! The money!?"

Asgore growled angrily in response, almost biting his stogie in half as he took another drag "Tch, the typical answer, it's all about the money, isn't it? Wealth, fame, growing fat and plump by causing others to grow thin and wasted" He turned from the weasel and marched back to the window, blowing out another puff of smoke that condensed on the glass, causing his piercing gaze to be reflected back at the weasel.

"Always the same answer from people like you, chasing after one alluring twinkle of gold after the next with no real end-goal in sigh. So short-sigthed. Money is a means, never the end. It honestly hurts that it has come to this, though, perhaps your place as a mere fourth-tier member is well deserved"

"B-boss?"

"It's for love"

"Wha-?"

"Love, taking care of those that matter most to us. THAT is why we do all this. Many people have no choice but to turn to crime, some find that it is simply what they do best. We steal, we scam, we rob, we even hurt and maim at times, yes, but NEVER for ourselves, you see?"

"Boss, I-"

" **I'm not finished!** " Asgore snarled, not a shout, but his voice was still powerful enough to be felt as a rumble in the floor.

"We do things most others would consider bad, even evil… but there are still some things we never do, some lines we don't cross" He took another drag, taking a moment to let calm regain control over his voice.

"I've learned many things over a long life. Not all crimes are equal, I kept to theft at first because anything material can always be regained. Money can be earned back, heirlooms and artifacts recovered… the same cannot be said for a life. Once you kill someone you take everything they had, have and ever will have with no chance to return it, which is why I don't like having assassins and hired killers in my city"

He turned back to the weasel. By now, he looked more resigned than scared, with a pleading look in reddish eyes.

"The same goes for kidnapping and ransoming. Taking someone's money is a whole lot different than taking their time, safety, and dignity, though, perhaps you never really cared. After all, it's all about the money isn't it?"

The weasel dipped his head in supplication, taking a deep breath that didn't entirely manage to hide a fear-choked voice.

"Boss, forgive me, I… I promise I'll never do it again. I'll pay double tribute! Triple! Just, please, show mercy"

A dismissive grunt escaped the Don "We found evidence of your consorting with the FoulFroggit Freebooters amongst the wreck of their ship. To think, selling out your own mob members for money" he exhaled another cloud of smoke "Poor sport"

"Don Asgore, Grandest Thief Alive, please…"

"You know, I can tolerate, even expect a modicum of audacity from my underlings. In our line of work, you don't get far just following orders and playing by someone else's rules. Initiative and a healthy amount of ambition can carry you far… but not when it comes at the cost of loyalty"

"Please! I'll do anything!"

"And that's the problem, isn't it? You'd do anything, not for the cause of friends and family, but to further your own lot in life. Some gangs and mobs might appreciate such a lack of scruples… but not mine" Asgore added with dire finality. He withdrew a piece of paper from a drawer in his desk and offered it to the weasel.

"There's a smuggling boat leaving the city tomorrow morning. You have the rest of the day to gather what stuff you can, but if I ever see your face in my city again, you'll be leaving it in something much smaller than a boat. But before I let you go, there is a saying I've heard going around that I quite agree with, something for you to ponder"

The Don let the words hang in the air for a few moments.

"'In Ebott, you live and die on your reputation'… now, once word gets out you're a rat bastard that sold out his gang, what do you think is most likely to come your way? Life or death? Consider this piece of paper your 'mercy'"

"Pl-please, don't do this! I'll lose everything!"  
" **You should have thought of that before you went ahead and sold out your crew to traffickers you damned idiot! Now get your worthless, sniveling hide out of my office!** " The Don angrily growled, taking a stomp towards the weasel, who tipped over backwards in the chair, half-scrambling, half-stumbling for the door, which he ripped open with the strength of desperation before fleeing down the halls, wailing all the way.

Asgore sighed as the distant cries subsided, pinching the bridge of his nose and squashing his cigar in an ashtray, the tea leaves inside being all but spent.

"Good golly, the amount of snakes in our Eden never stops frightening me" he said out loud in a tone suddenly leagues softer, enough that anyone present might have mistaken it for a different person entirely.

But the only other present knew the Don well enough to understand. From out of the shadows of the room another figure appeared, gracefully enough that the robes she wore made it seem like she hovered instead of walked.

"He received his just punishment for his duplicity" Toriel cooed.

"You don't think I went too hard on him? He was right, he doesn't have anything aside from what's in the city"

"He sold out a fellow brother in crime for mere mammon. He already had less than nothing, only a craven's heart"

"I suppose so"

Toriel cocked her head to the side, displaying a faint smile "Dear me, Gory, I remember a time where you would have exiled people like him with nothing less than the clothes on their back for far lesser transgressions"

The Don turned to her with a small laugh "What, you're saying I'm going soft?"

"In more ways than just your heart" she replied, pinching a small roll of excess fur in the Don's side.

"Hah, can you blame me? With such a wonderful woman always by me? Showering me in more love and care than I probably deserve?" He said, taking her paw into his own while wrapping his other arm around her waist, their meeting eyes like a bridge in which only pure affection traveled on.

Without a word the two of them gently traipsed into a small dance around the spacious office. Each second was like a balm of the Don's mind, washing away the bitterness of deceitful underlings and their machinations and replacing it with a wave of inner peace.

At times like this, he could barely fathom how someone like him could be so fortunate to have moments like this, and to get to be with someone like his queenpin. He really was lucky to have her.

All of Ebott was, he conceded.

As a young girl, Toriel had been born to a noble monster family on the complete opposite end of the social ladder from the crime boss she would end up with, growing up to be a stunning natural beauty. She had never wanted for anything in her childhood, with servants tending to her every need and whim… except for the time to actually enjoy any of it.

Every waking moment had been spent practicing courtesy and proper noble etiquette. Hours spent performing tasks while trying to balance a stack of books on her head, whole days in ballrooms learning the pirouettes, steps, and turns of all different kinds of courtly dances to the point she could do them with angelic grace in her sleep, and while most children would attend school to learns the basics of the world, Toriel had special tutors providing all that and more; the literature and works of the world's greatest poets and songwriters, practice with the harp, piano and violin.

Her more magically inclined teachers had worked to include her proficiency in fire magic into her training as well; small theatrical puppet shows made with characters of multi-colored fire, dance steps that had her letting of beautiful flames to create the perfect immersive backgrounds in step with the tunes of the music and much more.

Great time was also committed to fostering her talents for healing magic, as was custom for the caring, gentle image of a noblewoman her tutors were trying to impress upon her.

All of it was to refine the young Toriel into something less of a person, and more of the perfect marriage proposal for the son of another noble family. Which were precisely her family's intentions.

One morning, as she was practicing Farron's 7th Symphony of Magic on the piano, while an echo-flower gramophone recited the collected verses of Mani Wildpen's collected works, her father had stepped in. A proud and powerful monster with the face of a statue, seemingly only capable of an expression of feigned disinterest.

His message was clear and blunt. She was to be married away to the son a Duke two continents away, someone she had never heard about, in order to secure a deal on Sea Tea trade.

Toriel had taken the life-shaking news with all the practiced calm, patience, and grace her tutors and teachers had spent most her life ingraining into her, and as she gently nodded her acquiescence, her father had in a rare moment displayed a look of something other than indifference – content. To him, he wasn't losing a daughter never to be seen again, to him, this was a years-long investment finally paying off. The beautiful and graceful flower that was his daughter, which he had spent nearly 2 decades tending to, was now ready to be traded away for a valuable piece of paper and the promise of capital.

Toriel had spent the next few days of preparation in a daze, though no one had noticed it under her veil of calm and composure. She had always known this was what was ultimately intended for her, but the thought that the entire purpose of her life had been decided by another made her sick to her stomach. Soon, she would be married to a complete stranger, where she would spend the rest of her life being the graceful housewife, entertaining guests and playing the trophy wife for someone who had probably never spent a second trying to court someone of the opposite sex.

Somewhere down the line, she would probably be asked to deliver children to him, but as far as she was concerned, her future life story, and the influence it might have on the world, could be written on the back of her paw. Her story was well and truly over already, decided without any care for her interests.

And it made her so terribly afraid.

Although Toriel would probably call meeting the Grandest Thief Alive her luckiest moment, the event that allowed her escape as she was traveling by carriage like a wrapped present to her groom-to-be, was most likely a close second.

A magical rock of condensed mustard had slammed in the carriage as they were traveling along a forest trail, sending her tumbling out the side and into a thick undergrowth. It had taken a few moments for the shock to wear off, and as she looked up, she saw a lesson of overconfidence in display. A group of Highway Tems had launched a raid, wielding tubes of condiments to pitiful effect. Even as she saw one pounce on a guard and heard his screams turn to wet gurgles as the Tem emptied a tube of mayonnaise into his mouth, it was clear the Tem were losing, the bandits having put too much stock in their weaponry and in the process of being routed by her father's guards.

The idea to return to them had occurred to her.

Occurred and then quickly dashed as she took a long look behind her, into the forestry wilderness. None of the guards had witnessed her expulsion from the carriage and were still busy with the bandits. It occurred to Toriel that for the first time in her life she was free to make her own choice.

Without a word she had turned on her heel and wandered into the dark green of the forest, leaving her father's carefully prepared and planned future for her behind.

The next few years had been a blur to Toriel. Being a wanted monster since her disappearance she was forced to stick to the shadows and more hidden parts of the world. She drifted from group to group, gang to gang and outfit to outfit, all being appreciative of her considerable healing skills, but all finding her noble demeanor and manner rubbing them the wrong way, and it was never long before she felt her welcome run out.

It was only when she turned solo she found a measure of stability… and the key to a new life.

She had managed to gain entry to a local baron's new year's party, filled to the brim with pompous human and monster nobles with more in their purses than their heads, which was exactly why she was there. Although she didn't have a ticket, an entire childhood's worth of tutoring in social decour had seen her true. A raised, indignified snout, huff of disappointment, disapproving glare, and a scathing comment aimed at the worth of the gatekeeper's lineage had seen him shamed enough to let her into the party without fuss. Now she was poised to ply her newfound skills in pickpocketing.

She had spotted a young noble, slumped over a chair, drunk to oblivion after only half an hour of partying. Like a tiger moving through the grass towards its prey, she had made her way towards the dancing masses towards him but just as she was ready to pounce a great shadow fell over her as an imposing figure took a steep to bar her way. She had readied her usual barrage of apologies, but they all died in her throat as she looked up, finding a dashingly handsome face ringed by a lustrous and well-groomed golden mane. The intruder had gently offered his paw and asked if he could have the dance. Perhaps it was out of a need to keep up appearances or maybe being accosted so suddenly by an attractive monster had caused her to lower her guard, but whatever the reason Toriel, almost excitedly, took the offer.

While he was nowhere near the runaway noble's level, he still proved himself to be a capable dancer, knowing the ins and out of a classic ball dance, but there was something amiss. The stranger's eyes would dash to and fro to the other nobles in the room, often around their purses and jewelry, occasionally gifting Toriel with a knowing smile. A sense of dread had welled up in her chest, did he know? But how? She hadn't even taken anything yet, was he hired by her father? Or was he some kind of undercover guard, daring her to make a theft so he could bag her?

Before her suspicions could get the better of her, the stranger had flashed her a teasing grin, before suddenly, but not ungently grabbing her by the wrist and waist, stepping to the side and sending her spinning into a pirouette terminating in them holding each other by an outstretched arm.

And with her free paw being just within reach of a fine pocket watch hanging loosely from a noble's back pocket.

Suddenly, knowing without knowing, Toriel was sure of the stranger's intention. She deftly plucked the pocket watch before turning back into the return pirouette that would deposit her into the stranger's arms, using the whirlwind of motion to camouflage her hiding her stolen treasure in her dress. The stranger had laughed a warm chuckle as their eyes met again before quietly declaring "my turn"

He had taken her shimmying and shaking their way near a pair of talking bigiwigs, performing a swift pivot in front of them before turning away just shy of getting too close for comfort. At first, Toriel didn't notice anything out of the ordinary, right until the stranger took her paw into his own for the next part of the dance and she felt the press of a handful of stolen buttons of solid gold inside, somehow ripped straight out of the clothes of the bigwigs by the big monster without them noticing.

The rest of the night had been one joyful dance of theft and larceny for Toriel, feeling a genuine sense of joy and happiness, maybe for the first time in her life, and it conveyed an almost magical touch to their dance. Never before had she felt so light on her feet and never before had she felt so at ease with a dance partner. They flowed into the steps, twists and turns in the most natural way without even having to think. Eventually, they both noticed how many in the ballroom were regarding them with awe, too enamored with the two dancing monsters to notice how their own pockets had gotten a lot lighter.

The two of them had locked eyes, wordlessly reaching the same conclusion, best to stop while they were ahead. With a few graceful moves, they closed in on the doors leading out. The stranger had taken her by the waist and tossed her into the air where she spun herself into a pirouette, one leg stretched out so the enchanted dress was lightly lifted, sending a whirlwind of multicolored fire off, briefly turning the runaway noble's daughter into a living fireworks array just as the accompanying orchestra reached a crescendo. The stranger had gently caught her in strong arms before she hit the floor, swinging her around his body before setting her down, both of them seamlessly flowing into a deep bow before the rest of the ballroom attendees.

Toriel barely even registered the great cheer aimed at them, still too taken by the captivating stranger, and when he gently lifted her paw and asked to 'take 'it' somewhere more private' she knew this was what she had been looking for – new life.

A belief that had only been reinforced all the more as they had sat underneath the moon at the stranger's roofside hideout, sharing a bottle of squeezed snail brandy. Asgore Dreemur was his name, a boss of a small but growing gang.

The look of hesitation on his face told her that he feared his depth of involvement in the criminal underworld would scare her off, but in the end, it had only enticed her even more.

Still to this day, she could hardly fathom that almost fantastical circumstances, her, a troubled noble's daughter, whisked away on a cloud of love by a dashingly handsome rogue to a live of excitement and adventure, like something out of a romance novel.

Over time, she had come to prove herself as more than just the pretty face many of the Don's visitors took her for, being able to temper Asgore's passions with wit and logic. Some even said that Toriel's smarts, beauty, grace and noble bearing lended Ebott an air of credibility and maturity many, even more powerful mobs and gangs could only dream of, easily marking her as the greatest treasure the Don ever had.

But this wasn't a novel, this was her life and had been for many years now. Their dance now might not be as vigorous as the one back then but both of them still felt spark that had first sprung into life in that ballroom so long ago now.

"Every time we do this" Asgore sighed happily "I feel like I'm falling in love all over again"

"And I with you, my darling fluffybuns"

A soft chuckle escaped the Don, sounding more befitting of a flirtatious teen than the venerable crime boss he was.

"We really have it too well" he said.

"The fruits of many years trying to make a dream a reality"

" **Our** dream" he softly corrected.

She teasingly flashed her eyes at him "Of course, what else could it be? I have everything I have ever dreamed of right here. A loving husband, a life with purpose and our two precious children"

"Ah, and what are our two rascals up to?"

"Little Frisk just got home from her case, another successful ruling"

"Hah, that's our girl" the Don laughed before slowly, almost unperceived turning a tad more apprehensive. Even if she didn't see it Toriel could feel it in his dance, his grip turning a bit tighter and steps becoming stiffer.

"And… Asriel, is he…?"

"Home as well, safe, though not completely worse for wear. Undyne had quite some… choice words regarding the night's escapades"

"Oh golly, he's been out putting himself in danger again? Still even after all this time?"

"At least he is home safe"

"This time" Asgore sighed "I just… it's not easy, getting a good nights rest, knowing he might… he might-"

"Shush, my love, do not think such thoughts" Toriel cooed, resting her head on his chest "I worry too that we might wake up to a morning without him in our lives once again, but I promise you, Alphys and I are doing all we can to ease his troubles"

The Don gently caressed her head, leaning his own down to hers.

"I still feel so rotten. The Flowey Gang, all those years he spent as their thrall - none of it would have happened if I had just-"

"You could not have known the repercussions would have been so severe"

"Bad things happen to those who kill, that's all I know. It did to me, and I'm afraid it'll happen to him as well, if it isn't already"

"And have you not done your utmost to never repeat that mistake? We cannot change what happened, my love, there is no sense worrying over it.

"You're right, of course" The Don softly chuckled "I just… wish I could do more other than standing around feeling sorry for myself"

"He still needs his father, more than ever"

"I'll see about it"

The tone of finality in the Don's voice carried over to the dance. Their steps slowed, bit by bit until it came to a stop in the middle of the room. The Queenpin lifted her head and their eyes met, still as young and shinning as the day they met, as if all the troubles of their world couldn't pierce the sphere around them.

"I love you" Asgore simply stated. Toriel's respone being the climax to the dance both of them had been waiting for; a long, happy kiss.

The day was young. Downstairs, breakfast was waiting and the city beyond held plenty of problems and issues for the crime-couple to take on and solve together, as they had for many years now.

Neither of them realizing that, in a way, the beginning of the end for Ebott was slowly taking shape.


	2. Souls of Ebott

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See!? I told you I'd do it! I'd told you I'd try and get another chapter out by Friday!
> 
> *Ahem* That aside, please enjoy!

"Mom, I know you don't like me going out in the night, but – Ouch – It's not that I want you to worry – Aww – I just need to do it, it's the only way I – Eek! – Oh, come on! Can't this wait!?" Asriel huffed, but the scolding glare of Toriel, sitting at his bedside, magically conjuring a needle to sew sutures in his wounds from the night before, brooked no quarter.

"Asriel Dreemurr, I am well aware of your need to put yourself in danger and to prove yourself, though stars alone know to whom, but I would appreciate if you would at least take a passing interest in your health" She said and waved a paw at the bed linens and blanket, covered in several dark-red blotches and patches of glittering monster dust.

"Just look at this mess! If I did not know better, I would think a murder happened here!"

"I'm fine! Just lay off!" Asriel snapped, slapping Toriel's paw away and letting the magical suturing needle fall down.

"Wasn't anything I couldn't handle. I'm still alive, aren't I?"

"More through fortunate happenstance than any effort on your part, if what Undyne has told me is true" Toriel said cooly.

The look of annoyance on his face faded away to one of slight apprehension. He glanced down at the foot of the bed where, unbeknownst to everyone but him, the ghost of Chara watched with concern "Oh… you… you've already talked to her? W-well, she wasn't on the ship anyhow! She couldn't have seen everything that went down!" He hurriedly added.

"My child…"

"And hey, I saved someone! Doesn't that count for anything!? You and Undyne are always riding on me about putting myself in danger but every time I save someone you just –"

"Asriel" Toriel said in a firm voice that, without being loud, carried enough of a steely edge to cut down any of his protests.

He tried to summon his frustrations back up, but the dual look of Chara and his mom regarding him with a mix of worry and disapproval meant all he could feel was a knot of shame in his chest.

The Queenpin breathed in for a few seconds, letting the motions calm her.

"Undyne tells me that you set the FoulFroggit Freebooter's ship ablaze in an almighty explosion, with their victim tied on the deck"

"Y-yeah, well, I figured they wouldn't get caught in it" he fired off a little too fast, instantly chiding himself for using the word 'figured'.

Toriel sighed and leaned down, placing a gentle paw on his chest.

"My little angel Asriel. Would that I knew of any spell or poultice that could heal the pain that drives you to do this to yourself. Would that I could turn back time and prevent that horrible day that led me sitting over my baby's battered and torn body like this"

"Mom, I –" Asriel began but couldn't finish. He wanted to apologize but with the number of times he had done so in past months, it was like it had lost its meaning.

Toriel didn't seem to mind, though. She leaned down further, wrapping an arm around his shoulders to gently pick him up, and placed her forehead to his.

"Whatever thoughts you might have, never lose hope that things will get better. Time and love heals all wounds. This too shall pass" she consoled.

Asriel felt his fears and doubts melt away, not completely, but enough that just thinking about the future didn't completely overwhelm him. A part of him almost wished he could get this kind of comfort in a pill form for when it got really bad. He looked over at Chara, cracking a smile as he saw him with his arms wrapped around himself, eyes closed and smiling wide as if mimicking the emotion he was going through.

"I hope so, I really do" he said, practically a whisper "But it's been like this ever since I got back, about half a year now and it only ever seems to get worse"

"The night is darkest just before the dawn" Toriel reassured, lifting her head to look him over as she ran a caressing claw over the dark lines running from eyes around his head, a gift from his time in the Flowey Gang.

"I remember you as you were before all this. My Asriel, who laughed in his sleep, wrote silly poems about everything between the stars and the earth and who always returned everything he pickpocketed. There is no reason you cannot be that person again"

"Mom, I'm not a little kid anymore"

"Age is no excuse to be unhappy" she said, lifting herself from the bed slowly.

"Fret not, my child. We will wean you of the shadow over your soul yet"

"… That'd be nice" He sighed, chiding himself for the apathy in his voice, but at least reassured that he meant it.

"Of course, there is work to do if we are to set you straight. Come down to breakfast with us, you and Frisk have places to be" Toriel said.

Asriel almost did a double-take at the sudden change in tone "Uh, what? We do?"

"Of course! It is time for your weekly counseling session with Alphys"

"Oh, that…" Asriel groaned, letting himself fall back into his pillow.

"I do not care for your tone, Asriel. Alphys has gone to great lengths to help soothe your troubles, the least you can do is bother to show up"

"… I'll be down in a few" he sighed, grateful that his mom didn't push the issue and left the room.

The solitude was short-lived. With a gust of wind that didn't seem to come from anywhere, the ghost of Chara manifested suddenly at his side, sitting with one leg on the bed.

"Wonder what the lil'lizard got for ya this time" he said.

"Probably just another big waste of time. If talking would make me feel better, it would have worked a long time ago"

"Perhaps" Chara shrugged "But stuff like this isn't easy to deal with, I mean, just imagine how convenient it would be if Alphys could, I dunno, stick a tube up yer butt and just suck all the doom and gloom out"

"Honestly, at this point, I'd happily sign up if that worked"

"Oh, wow, I didn't know you were into butt-stuff, Azzy" Chara teased, the little comment like the ignition that caused Asriel to leap from his bed like a rocket.

"I-I'm not! I'm just saying if it worked I'd-"

"I never would have guessed, my kid brother, into butt-stuff. I wonder what mom would think if she knew what her little 'angel' was really like"

" **I'm not into butt-stuff!** "

"Eh, she probably wouldn't mind. Your hole, your goal and all that"

"… maybe I should head down for breakfast" Asriel groaned, kicking the covers off and scooping a pair of pants, white shirt, and green hoodie off the floor.

The ghostly Chara could only grin at the haste the goat boy was in to leave the room. He pointed a finger at a spot above the dresser as Asriel got the hoodie on "Before you do, don't forget to check your mail, I hear Chara Ghost Delivery Service Inc. Set their best courier on the case!"

"And I suppose that would be you?"

"Aww, you smooth talker you! But you really shouldn't be putting the moves on your dear departed bro when your living family is waiting downstairs with buttfast- errh, breakfast" Chara declared, jumping off the bed and giving a crisp salute "Right! Better hop to it. I'll see you at Alphys's. I got some ghost biz to take care of"

"… See ya" Asriel managed in a voice much quieter than he would have liked, even if he did manage to crack a genuine smile as the translucent form of his sibling faded from view.

He walked over to the dresser, putting his paw around his heart-locket and letting the warm, comfortable magic seep out. On the wall above the dresser a translucent, smoky-like message board came into view. Small, just-as-ghostly post-it notes were plastered on it, each carrying a message. On the dresser itself was another note, neatly folded into an origami goat and as he slowly unpacked it he looked over a row of notes at the top of Chara's so-called "Ghost Board", his favorites.

"Believe in me that believes in you!"

"Each day is a new chance to find the silver lining"

"Nothing is permanent. You are not stuck"

"Things take time. It is the last ring on the lock that opens the door"

"You need chaos in your soul to create a blazing star!"

"Don't worry if you feel like garbage. It's garbage- _can_ , not garbage- _can't_ "

His view briefly stopped before reaching the last one in the upper corner of the Ghost Board, a section covered in shadows from the window's blinders, as if it was one he was afraid to look at, but like always he couldn't help himself and he gave it the briefest glance.

"I don't regret dying for you. I'd do it again"

He winced, as he always did, and whispered the same words he always did.

"I just wish you hadn't needed to"

Each morning for the past many months it had been the same ritual. He would find a ghostly note written by Chara on his dresser, usually bearing encouragements or urging him on. It was a comfortable practice, even if it did remind him of the tragedy that caused it in the first place each time. Chara's essence in his Heart-Locket ensured only he could see it, as he, on her behest, had promised not to reveal her soul was still around to their parents and Frisk.

A sad situation all around Asirel surmised but as he looked down at the unpacked origami post-it note the sigh died in his throat, transforming into a choked chuckle.

"U sexy beast, boi!" It read.

He ran his claws over it, enjoying the soft, airy, and cool feeling of the ghost note.

"Never change, Chara" he whispered, reaching up to place the note on the Ghost Board.

* * *

-

"Asriel! Frisk! So good to see you! It's been too long since last we saw" Alphys beamed, welcoming the pair into her lab with gusto.

"We saw each other just last week at the counseling, remember?" Asriel droned in response.

"Uhm, r-right, I was ki-kinda talking about Frisk, it's been a few weeks at least"

"A few weeks too long without my favorite lizard boo! Bring it in!" Frisk declared and threw her arms wide.

"Y-yeah!" Alphys threw herself into the embrace. While they were somewhat similar in height, Frisk's human nature still gave her a superior robustness and she easily swung the gleeful lizard around in a hug

"S-so, hey, A-Asgore tells me you won another court case, and-and that you got everyone in the room hyped up again" Alphys posed as she was put down.

"Pfft, t'was nothing, all I have to do is spew a few power words with conviction and everyone gets riled up"

"Man, I wish I could see it. Must be so cool, everyone looking at and cheering your name. Hey, you think I could come along and look at some point?"

"Oohh, I dunno about that, not sure I want cute widdle lizard hogging all my glory"

"*Gulp* y-you think so!?"

"Hey, Alphys, could we get with the program?" Asriel, irritated, put to her.

"Oh, right, sorry, my bad!" The scientist jumped from the hug and dusked her lab coat.

"I'll be with you in a minute, just – ah – Frisk, make yourself at home. I have a new lab assistant that – or, well, not really new, she's been here a few months, just so engrossed in her work she hasn't really been outside the building, but, yeah, you could go introduce yourself to her… or something. I'll, uhh, come along once I'm done with the counseling.

"Oh cool, a new friend! What's her name?" Frisk asked.

"Her name? Erm, its… something with an "S"…"

"… You forgot?"

"I forgot…"

"Alphys…"

"H-hey, I'm no good at remembering names! Just, I dunno, ask her, or something. Look, I-I gotta go do this thing with Azzy. There are a few drinks in the lab fridge if you need" the lizard hurriedly fired off before turning and practically pushing the goat boy into a side room in a haste to get away from the conversation, leaving her alone in the lobby.

Frisk shook her head, in a good manner at the nervous but passionate scientist, and in a more disproving way at her impatient brother.

Turning on her heels she made her through a set of double doors leading unto a catwalk overlooking a lab that only dirty money could buy. Centrifuges configured to spin faster than standards allowed, some for practical reasons and some simply because standards didn't allow it, scanners made to detect energies both regular and magical, and dozens of machines with names convoluted enough to make a Froggit hurl.

Don Asgore had sunk millions of Gs' into the lab, initially not much more than chemist table and whatever reagents the gang could scrounge up, but Alphys's continued brilliance had earned the Don't support many times over.

Years ago, Alphys had been a rising star within the scientific fields of technomagic, archaeotech and research into the Soul. A massive human corporation had employed her with the task of inventing medicine and pharmaceuticals that stimulated the soul, rather than the physical body. It had been a passion project for the little lizard and she had thrown herself into it with gusto, learning new things about the nature of souls and how to influence them on a daily basis.

A concoction made from ionized ice melted specifically by the heat of a Pyrope mixed with powdered Migosp wings provided a powerful boost of energy to any human or monster who drank it, giving their soul a fire and lightness well-suited for the athletic and sporty or those working long hours.

A pill made from a mix of a Knight-Knight's armor's rust and scrapings from the hull of a Tsunderplane bolstered the soul with a will of iron, toughened the body and boosted the health.

She had even managed to organize an ASMR track consisting of Shyren's singing to the background of gentle water magic being used. The sound being so relaxing to the soul and body it made several test participants unwillingly void their bowels.

Or, at least, that was what had been told were the results.

Clinical Trials, or human / monster testing, had been approved rather quick for any of her inventions, but Alphys had been too caught up in her scientific experiments and their apparent success to pay it any mind.

Right up until a late night she had spent in the lab pouring over her computer running a preliminary analysis of the effects of a medicine created through a mix of human blood and monster dust. As the 'Compiling' bar finally reached 100% and the results were displayed, Alphys knew this was her chance to cement her name in the world of science for all time. The hypothetical effects were extraordinary; humans becoming able to wield magic, monsters becoming as tough and durable as humans!

The only problem resided in getting access to the somewhat macabre ingredients.

Thus, the little scientist had raced from the lab, feet light with the promise of all the good the wonder drug could do. She had almost reached her bosses' office before she realized that, at this time of night, everyone had probably gone home.

And yet, light shone from her bosses' office, and as she approached she heard the door to the executive restroom nearby close.

Alphys didn't mind waiting and letting the suspense build up. It didn't matter if her boss was going for a number 1 or a number 2, he would crap his pants once she told him what her next project might entail.

Her bosses' office was mostly dark, the only real light being the shine from his computer. Alphys would usually consider herself shy and reserved, but the promise of what was to come had made her practically light-headed and audacious.

She rounded on her bosses' desk, her heart skipping a joyful beat as she spotted her name on a document open on the screen. Was it a letter of commendation? A promotion? A speech of praise for her at the upcoming company BBQ? The possibilities spun in her head as she read on, calming somewhat as she realized the document was the results of the Clinical Trials of her latest project; the pill made from Knight-Knight rust and Tsunderplane scrappings.

Then they died completely as she read the bottom text, highlighted in red with the note attached that read " _To Be Deleted_ ".

The highlighted words hit the scientist as an acid trickle, quickly disintegrating the ivory tower she had built for herself in her mind, and like a tower rocking back and forth on an unsteady foundation, Alphys found her knees quaking as her world was ripped apart piece by piece for every word she read.

_Unfortunate side effects of the drug include:_

\- _A 1-in-100 chance for the skin and muscle of extremities, even entire limbs, to transform into solid iron. The nervous systems of infected bodily parts remain unchanged and the few clinical trials subjects able to respond claim the sensation to be like the limb in question is constantly being crushed by metallic weights. There is no way to alleviate this issue. – Can be handwaved away as the drug overreacting to an iron deficit in the subject's body._

\- _An almost guaranteed chance (est. 94%) for metallic dentures to expand considerably. This always results in the test subject's teeth rupturing, followed by severe blood loss. – Lucky this is almost guaranteed. We can litigate ourselves from all responsibility by adding a small warning to the label NOT to use the drug if you have dentures._

\- _A few rare instances (17 cases so far) of small pockets of blood turning to iron in the subject's veins. Regular blood pressures has proven enough to push these newly-formed iron spikes through the subject's skin. In every case, death has followed soon after. – I've seen the pics. Think I got a new idea for a design for our porcupine mascot, maybe just switch all the red with blue._

\- _A single, frankly baffling instance of a test subject growing a fully functional jet engine out their lower back. Make and model is consistent with ones seen on most adolescent Tsundereplanes. When asked if she was in any pain the subject has been curiously passive-aggressive, usually replying in the likes of "Not like you'd care". – While the mesh of meat and metal is a bit of a turnoff, we should see if we can't get our little lizard wonder to look into a flight-granting drug._

Already Alphys was in a dark pit with each word adding another leaden weight to the anchor dragging her ever deeper. Had her research truly lead to all this suffering?

Cruelly, a reply was immediately presented to her as she noticed a few other open files on the computer. Tentatively, but with a need for clarity, she opened them.

And immediately regretted it as what little pride she still had in her work melted in the glare from the PC screen.

Test results from all her previous inventions and research. She recognized all of them but the ones now shown to her were the un-edited versions, and she felt a sickness rise to her throat as she remembered how happy and proud she had been reading them, never realizing all the blood and dust mixed into the ink.

The medicine from ice melted by pyropes had caused Spontaneous Human / Monster Combustion.

The ASMR band caused violent hallucinations and dementia.

The list went on.

Each and every one of her inventions carried dangerous and fatal side-effects her boss had managed to shush up to get them out of the door faster and save time on testing.

And yet, she realized that it wasn't her boss who had started the fire that had burnt so many, he had merely blinded her to it, all because she was too busy with her next project, always tinkering, never really bothering to see for herself the results of her rampant and unrestricted research.

A hand landed on her shoulder. For a moment Alphys was certain it was a demon come to drag her down to hell to suffer for her atrocious research and as she turned around, while she did find a devil, it was one wearing the guise of her boss.

His eyes went back and forth between the screen and her, a sneer of annoyance and disappointment on his lips. They parted as he lowered his head down to her ear to drip poisoned, honeyed words into it.

A simple command. Go home, take the week off, come back once she's rested, continue her research and they would all act like this little encounter never happened.

In a state of grief and outrage, Alphys managed to stammer something about blowing the lid on the faked test results, but her boss smiled cruelly in response, explaining how, with all the work Alphys had put into the medicine they were selling, no one would ever believe she didn't know about the true dangers of them and how easy it would be to pin all the blame on her.

Before Alphys could as much as gasp at the reply her boss had gently shoved her out of his office, repeating his request for her to go come and come back to continue to work once she "got her heart out of her head".

Dazed, nearly shell-shocked, and with cold tears running down her face Alphys had staggered back to her lab, now seeing it for what it was. Beakers filled blood, Bunsen burners incinerating tortured souls, syringes filled with soul-extinguishing poison. This wasn't a place of progress and science, it was a homunculus's workshop and she was the butcher, too blinded by her success to realize that she was never carving to the root of a problem, instead carving people to bits.

When she opened a closet to retrieve her jacket, Alphys was sure for the second time that day that a demon had come to claim her soul as instead of finding her Mew-Mew windbreaker, she found a large, horned goat-monster sheepishly smiling down at her from within the closet, clutching a pack of stolen lab equipment.

The surprise had been too for her already shattered mind to bear. She had collapsed to her knees, wailing loudly, tears flowing along with her anguished regrets of everything she had ever done, declaring her whole life was a lie, that if science was the greatest good then she was the most heinous imp to ever live, practically begging the stranger in her closet to just end her existence.

Instead, after minutes of uncontrolled sobbing, she managed to blink away a few tears, finding the stranger looking down at her with pity and concern. He wasn't all that scary upon closer inspection, Alphys realized, in fact, the was a warmth and friendliness to his features and while his large size seemed, at first, intimidating, it actually gave more of a protective presence, rather than a threatening one.

The stranger nodded solemnly at her, gently putting the bag of lab equipment on a table and kneeled down to her height. "Where's your boss's office?" he had calmly asked. He didn't reply once she told him, instead nodding again and standing up, asking her to go home and wait a few days, before warmly reassuring her that 'there were enough mistakes in the world for people to feel bad about those of others'.

With that, the stranger left the lab, headed in the direction of her boss's office.

Alphys had already been in a fine daze but the next few days proved even more confusing. She had gone home, still wracked with grief and regret, only slightly salved by news of the unedited results of her research being leaked by an unknown informant to the public, strangely enough, with every mention of her name being replaced with that of her boss.

In fact, as the scandal went on for weeks, Alphys came to realize no one had even come to asked her opinion or involvement in the matter, no reporters, no paparazzi's, no executives from work. Her name never appeared in the news or the newspapers. When she tried to log into the company's site with her employee ID, every message she got back suggested she didn't work at the place, and never had. It was as if every hint of her connection to the research had been removed, her success, but also her failures.

As if it had never happened. A clean slate.

Alphys was about to write the whole experience off as a guilt-induced fever dream, until she took a step outside her apartment for the first time in weeks, suddenly finding the stranger again, as if he had known precisely down to the minute when she would finally come out. With his warm smile, reassuring presence, and an offer.

One where she could continue to do her research, but this time on her terms and while it would still be outside the law, the stranger solemnly promised never to hide anything from her like her old boss had.

Alphys had hesitantly accepted, but would ultimately end up seeing it as the best decision of her life. While her research wasn't as much focused on medicine and healing as before, and the lab standards were somewhat lower, her new life in Asgore's mob gave the little lizard ample opportunity to flex her scientific mind, from cloaking devices to echo-flower recorders all the way to her crowning achievement; the synthesizing of Soul-Aspects, Alphys had proven herself invaluable to the mob time and again.

Some even said that she was the greatest treasure The Grandest Thief Alive had managed to obtain.

And, overlooking from the catwalk, seeing the immense amount and complexity of facilities and equipment now available to the little lizard, Frisk wagered her dad had properly dumped a few of said treasures getting it all up and running.

She spotted movement down in the lab – some lights shifting and going around, and she eagerly went down the stairs to meet the new friend.

Making her way through a small maze of siloes containing everything from processed sugar to Synthesized Justice, Frisk entered into a small, brightly-lit clearing, seeing a figure hunched over a table stacked with beakers, notes, pliers, and other things Frisk wagered would probably blow up half the town if as much as sneezed at.

Frisk was about to hit the new friend with a special-issue flirt when a thought dawned on her; there weren't any light sources on, in fact, it almost seemed as the stranger itself was lighting the room up, practically glowing beneath the lab coat, and as the stranger shuffled, revealing a head made of fire, she realized why.

A Fire Elemental! Like Grillby!

"Woah, are the bunsen burners on, or are you literally smokin' hot?" Frisk put to the stranger's back.

The stranger barely moved in response, only turning her head over her shoulder to look. She had a set of glasses encapsulating a pair of white, flaming orbs – her eyes, and a sleek, hourglass-shape that somehow gave her feminine outline. The top of her head ended in crimson red fronds of flame, nearly giving the illusion of her having red hair.

"Oh… right…Alphys did say we'd have visitors" the fiery scientist said in a bored drone. Her voice had the lightness of youth, but with a hint of coarseness like from a soot-stained chimney.

Undeterred, Frisk took a jump forward, reaching a hand out to the stranger.

"Yup! I'm Frisk! Hyped to meet ya!

The stranger looked at her hand, up to her face, and back to the hand again before sighing deeply. She stood up straight, wiped her hands on a wet towel, and lazily shook with a weak grip. Her hand was surprisingly cold for a being made of fire, Frisk noticed.

"Sierra. Sierra Hayephaystus, Ph.D., assistant researcher" The Fire Elemental greeted in such an uninterested formal manner it almost made Frisk yawn. She was fairly tall, at least a head and shoulder taller than Frisk herself.

"Ah, that's right, she said it was something with an 's'" Frisk said.

"She forgot my name again, didn't she?"

"Yeah, she tends to do that. I always like to make up dumb sentences to help me remember names, like 'Sizzling Sierra Studies Salascious Science Stupendously Sacred to Serious Scentists'"

"Huh, and here I thought the only weirdos in this town was my boss and that Vigilante twat running around at night" Sierra sighed and glanced aside.

Frisk felt a sinking sensation at the fire elemental's dismissive tone. Not off to a great start, but maybe she was just tired, Frisk surmised, noticing how the fire beneath Sierra's eyes were a few hues darker, as if they were bags. Perhaps something to lighten the mood.

"Yeah, Alphys is a weird one. You'd expect a scientist who can make Justice Juice would be able to remember names, but all that's in her head is science and anime" Frisk said. She noticed a slight twitch in the flame elemental's eye, maybe she was onto something.

"She ever talked to you about it? Gosh, she throws these themed parties based on whatever is her favorite every once in a while. It's awesome! You should come along next time!"

"Oh god, I REALLY don't need you to encourage her anime addiction. Do you have any idea how hard it is getting any work done when your boss is blasting off about power levels or Rangetsans?" Sierra blurted and folded her arms, turning to look aside with a pout.

"And besides, everyone knows manga is clearly the superior medium. I'll even take Doujinshi over that overhyped and over-visualized crap they show on TV. Better for your brain and better for your ears, what, with all the 'screaming your attack' they always do" Sierra snorted.

"Ah, more a fan of the written word than the shown action?"

"It's an art form, Frisk! Don't judge me" Sierra hissed and turned back to her table.

"I'm not! I'm not!" Frisk exclaimed, backing away with her hands up. As she did, she noticed the storage tank behind the table Sierra was working on and a computer screen running an analysis on something labeled "S.O.D"

"So, whatcha' working on?" Frisk asked, traipsing over to the tank and slapping a hand on it. "The Infinity Cola? Pants you can wear on your head? A pill that'll make your rent go down?"

"Tch, how trite…" Sierra groaned, not bothering to look up.

Running around the tank, Frisk noticed a small, thick window set in the side showing an all-black interior. She was about to write it off as empty but a strange feeling of dread settled in her gut as she looked into the tank. It was a strange sensation, as if she could practically feel any comfort or courage she might have rise from soul and be sucked out of her eyes into the tank, leaving a pit of fear in her stomach.

"Is this what you're working on?" She asked out loud.

"Nah, it's the coffee machine"

"Wha-?"

"Of course it's what I'm working on! What gave it away? All the warning labels? The flashing lights? The fact that it's an industrial-sized container plumped straight up against my desk? Don't touch anything"

"Woah, what is it? Looks like… Evil Juice"

A sudden wind tore through the laboratory, sending a shiver down Frisk's spine. She was about to look around for open windows when she noticed Sierra was suddenly right beside her, having darted up to her fast enough to cause the wind.

"What… did you just call it?" She hissed. The chimney soot coarseness in her voice had turned into volcanic obsidian and her eyes suddenly flared big enough to completely engulf her glasses.

"Uhhm… Evil Juice?" Frisk answered nervously. She suddenly became aware of strange, fast-paced 'snapping' sounds and it took her a moment to realize it was because Sierra was crackling, with angry red sparks flying off her head.

"Alright… first off; WOW! Secondly; Evil, and Good for that matter, are just subjective social constructs we label things we do and don't like to feel better about ourselves, and which got NO place in a laboratory of science – there is no such thing as good or evil, and thirdly: **IT IS MOST DEFINITELY NOT A 'JUICE'!"** Sierra snapped, causing a shower of sparks to fall down, and Frisk who fearfully took a step back, patting herself down in fear of her clothes catching alight.

" **Juice is what you get when you squeeze something! What would evil juice even be!? The squeezings from my carefully cared for Evil Fruit!?"**

"Well, uh… yeah?" Frisk ventured.

" **WRONG!** My baby is not some kind of dark-hued OJ, it's a revolutionary soul-based chemical compound!"

"B-but what does it do?"

"It con-" Sierra began, suddenly catching herself. She took a deep breath and backed off a few steps, the room becoming noticeable darker as the flames of the fire elemental calmed down.

Even though Sierra didn't have anything resembling a mouth, her head slowly twisted into a visage that told Frisk she was grinning.

"You really wanna know? You'll just have to wait, but don't worry, it won't be for long"

"Hm?"

"I got a meeting with the Don tonight about my baby" Sierra explained, walking over and placing a hand on the tank "Have to get his blessing to start mass-producing my new wonder here and start selling it. Everyone's going to know my name! Finally, the pride of my family won't be that we're good at flipping burgers!"

"Flipping burgers? Wait… are you related to-"

"Niece" Sierra grunted in a manner that told Frisk it was a question she was used to.

"You have no idea how embarrassing it is, Frisk. I spent four years getting my Ph.D. and almost six more before that just getting my bachelor's and master's degree. I worked my butt to ashes all these years, all the while getting told the best and brightest of my family is goddamn fast food joint owner"

"To be fair, Grillby is **very** good at what he does"

"A trained Tem could do what he does! But this, once the Don gets things rolling I'm gonna be filthy rich! Rich and Famous!"

"But… it sounds like you've just made some kind of hard drug for the soul, isn't that… kinda evil?"

A deep groan escaped Sierra, like a pyroclastic flow from a hot spring and she shook her head.

"I told you; in science, there's no such thing as evil… but I guess it figures… I wouldn't expect a lowly pencil-pushing lawyer like you to understand" she huffed.

"W-what?" Frisk gasped, feeling a knot of apprehension form in her gut at the suddenly hostile tone of the fire elemental.

"You know what, Frisk? I just realized, you're just like uncle Grillby, you're exactly the type of person I hate the most in this world" Sierra said, taking a step towards Frisk.

"The type of person who is somehow famous and loved despite doing jack-all with their life. You're a figurehead, Frisk, a mascot at most. People only like you because you're some kind of Genki girl with a cute voice and a winning smile, oh, and being trash from the street the Don adopted. The gangers and mobs of Ebott look at you and say 'hEY iF sheS oN OUr SiDe We can'T bE aLL bAd' and then they go and rob some poor shmuck blind"

The room was darkening around Frisk, but this time it was not due to Sierra. Darkness was gathering in the edges of her vision, cold sweat was making her clothes stick to her back and her heart pounded so much it actually hurt.

She couldn't remember the last time anyone had ever talked down to her outside of a courtroom, and it was definitely the first time anyone had ever been so dismissive of her.

It was terrifying, but more than that, it was painful.

B-b-but I've worked ha-hard, too!" she protested, practically a whimper "I-I to-took the bar exam and-and became a lawyer and-and-and-"

"And **what** , Frisk? I could almost respect you becoming a lawyer before turning twenty if it wasn't because it was a waste of everyone's time" Sierra snapped and folded her arms, looking down at Frisk like a Volcano might regard a firecracker.

"Your dad doesn't need a lawyer, he's too powerful to be taken to court, same with your mom. I bet you only tried becoming a lawyer because it was difficult, because you felt like you needed to validate yourself"

"No! That's not-"

"You becoming a lawyer to help Ebott is like herding cats. It'll take some doing, I'll give you that, but it's useless! You're useless, Frisk!"

"SH-SHUT UP!"

"Or what, you're gonna sue me, little ms. Lawyer? You're going to turn this into a 187? We don't have courts in Ebott. I bet I could statistically prove that you're the least useful and productive member in the entire city. Hold on, let me get my drawing table"

"I SAID SHUT UP!" Frisk screamed. She swung a fist out at Sierra, only really managing to knock a chair over before turning and running for the exit.

It was like an entirely new experience for her. For as long as she had known everyone in Ebott had been nothing but nice to her. She could expect harsh words in court, but from people from her own city? The city she always defended in court?

The sensation was like a knife of betrayal coated in nauseating poison plunged into her heart, a dull pain in her chest and heaving as if she had been spun around by her world being turned upside down.

But was it really betrayal if Sierra was just speaking her mind? Worse still, were there others like her? Friends, acquaintances, and family who secretly thought she was all but useless? Was that was Stormstahr had been trying to tell her earlier in the day, when he had given her his card?

The mere implication was too much for the already tormented Frisk. Just as she left the building, she rounded a corner and doubled over, expelling the morning's breakfast on the ground. It was like whatever strength she had left flowed with and as she finished she collapsed on wobbling knees into the wall.

"St-stop… please, stop…" she weakly whimpered as if to command the quakes wracking her body to go away.

To think, after all the effort she had put into getting her badge and before that beating her sickness and becoming strong enough to even leave the house some people still considered that she might have nothing worthwhile to show for it. The more she thought about the more it seemed to ring true.

Worse still was the embarrassment of her reaction to Sierra's outburst; the first time anyone had ever really told her off and she was coming completely undone.

All that work, all those promises, and still nothing but a crybaby toddler.

She grasped the Heart Locket hanging at her neck, weakly mouthing an apology

"Please, don't hate me… Chara"

* * *

-

"So! How's it going?" Alphys eagerly inquired, closing the door to her study after letting Asriel in "I know it's only been a week, but are you feeling better? Happier? Got the 4 R's; Rest, Running, and Rejuvenation?"

"I eat whatever mom gives me, so I guess Rejuvenation is fine, running too, every moment I'm awake and not out I'm preparing for going out. As for Rest, well, I didn't have nightmares about the dead of the past coming to drag me down tonight, so I guess I slept alright, for the 3 hours I got" Asriel said as he lazily plumped down on the recliner.

"Ah, that's right! Undyne told me about that one, The Foulfroggit Freebooters, was it?"

"You know it"

The little lizard raced behind her desk and fetched a notepad, tipping her glasses down to her eyes as she scribbled.

"So saving people still work at least…" she mused to herself "But how about that other method I asked you to do last week? Was it any good?"

Asriel blinked a few times in confusion "Uhh, what? What method?"

"… Guess I'll mark that as 'inconclusive'" Alphys sighed and scribbled something on her pad before drawing breath.

"Last week I asked you to write a Gratitude Journal. Each day you would write down 10 things you were grateful for. The idea is that letting your feelings of goodwill flow out and take a kind of physical form would strengthen your belief in the good things in your life"

"Oh, right… forgot about that"

"Forgot or ignored?" Alphys posed, tipping her face down and looking over her glasses in a doubtful manner.

"Forgot, okay! What's the big deal anyway, we both know these coping methods are a waste of time" Asriel snorted derisively.

"We don't know that because you barely try any of them" Alphys retorted.

"Alphys… writing happy little thoughts in a book, or meditating or whatever it is you try and come up with is not going to anything about all those people I've… killed. The best I can hope is try and save people, as a way of restoring the balance, I guess. It's the only effective coping method"

"Asriel, a coping method that requires you to put your life at risk, lose sleep and is, at best, stopgap is most definitely **not** an effective coping method"

"Well, maybe I don't deserve anything better" Asriel shrugged "With all I've done I'd be lucky to bleed out in a dirty alley or some damp basement" he sighed, turning his head to look away, letting the words hang in the air for a few moments.

"My story ended on the Day of Seeds, I'm just some sad remnant leftover that should've been left behind. Out of place with everything and everyone I know. All I can do is try and do what little good I can before someone finally gets lucky and bumps me off, for good this time"

Alphys quietly regarded the solemn goat monster, lightly tapping the back of her notepad. Her eyes were indiscernible behind her glasses, but her posture was uncharacteristically firm and confident.

"We're not going to give up on you" She said strongly.

Asriel huffed an empty laugh "You're the mob's greatest scientific mind. Don't you have anything better to do than wasting time on me?"

A reassuring smirk formed on the lizard's lips and she took a few steps towards him, as if to insinuate that they would never stop moving forward.

"Asriel, your dad built the mob on the ideals that there should be no rules or limits to how someone could provide and care for those they love. Sure, I could go back to working to my magically concealed smuggling pouch, or my invisibility potion, that could probably make us a great deal of money… but you know what it wouldn't make us?"

"What?" Asriel huffed impatiently.

"It wouldn't make us proud or happy in what we do. Asriel, the dream is not to become richer, more powerful or, in my case, even smarter. The dream of Ebott is simply to become better and happier and right now, I can think of no better way to do that than help a good kid like you, the son of one of the best monsters I know, to find his path in life again"

Asriel wordlessly held his gaze on her for a few moments before limply throwing his paws up. Alphys took it as the closest she would get to an agreement.

"Now, I do actually have something new for us to try today, but before we do that let's just go over the usual" Alphys eagerly stated, flipping through a few pages on her pad.

"Your condition is a particularly bad case of 'Falling Down', a mix of extreme guilt and trauma which creates negative emotions in your soul with enough power for them to manifest in your dreams with such vividness and physicality it can actually kill you"

"Hmph, so you have actually paid attention all these times?" Asriel snorted.

"A-anyway! Remedies and coping methods for Falling Down vary from person to person. In your case, the pride and satisfaction of saving lives can momentarily lessen your symptoms"

"I could have told you that… oh, wait, I have, SEVERAL TIMES!" he snapped.

"I- I know! It's just that most coping methods are far less… extreme. It's usually something like meditation, busying the mind with work, being around friends and family as much as possible or just regular therapy"

"Hmph, we've tried all that to no effect, obviously" Asriel said, folding his arms and glancing down at the floor "No amount of therapy is going to help anyone remembering being trapped in their own body as it finishes off a family of 3, before approaching a baby's crib with a lit fireball to finish the job. No amount of mental distractions is going help me forget I was the one who planted the bomb at that-"

"No! None of that, none of that!" Alphys loudly barked, jumping and waving her arms as if to wake up a sleeping person.

"I actually had planned to delve a bit into the events that led to your 'Falling Down', but not like that!"

"You did?" Asriel mused.

In answer, Alphys waddled over to her desk and pressed a button. The surface opened up and a silvery, shining projector rolled up, slightly glittering from what was no doubt magical enchantments.

"This little thing is my unpatented PastPeeper!" Alphys proudly declared, slapping a hand on the projector "It allows us to peep into a person's past… hence the name"

"And I thought my family was bad at names…"

"Y-yeah well, it's a work in progress, so-so it's not like the name is final… or anything. Uh, but here, lemme show you what it can do!"

With a twist and turn of a few knobs, the PastPeeper sprung into life, sending a ray of dull-green light down on the floor where it expanded a few meters to all sides. Like reanimated corpses rising from their graves, a scene from the past also began rising from the light-covered floor. Market stalls, black market to be precise, in a large plaza, hawking everything from smuggled tuna to books banned the world over to magically enchanted weapons.

Asriel gasped at the scene, doubly so when figures also started emerging, 5 in all; his parents, him, Frisk and Chara, how they had looked 10 years ago.

"The Day of Seeds" Alphys somberly surmised "You don't hear a lot of people ever talk about it. It's a day most just want to forget ever happened"

The figures starting moving, becoming animated. The figures of Don Asgore and the Queenpin Toriel slowly making their way through the plaza, paws entwined, with a sickly Frisk resting atop Asgore's shoulders.

The smaller figures of Chara and Asriel were much more lively, darting from stall to stall, each looking for the coolest item for sale from across the known world.

"The Flowey Gang must have had spied on us for months" Alphys said "They knew exactly when to strike, one of the few days Asgore and Toriel had time off to go for a tour in their city with their children"

"…I can barely remember anything of my life prior to the Day of Seeds" Asriel lamented.

"Hmm?"

"I knew I was happier, apparently I was into poetry and the odd pickpocketing, but still, I was happy. Mom and dad were usually busy, but I still had Chara and Frisk to play with… until…" He sucked down a deep breath, stelling himself for the scene that was about to play out before him. The small light-figure of Asriel suddenly darted towards a stall almost smack-dab in the center of the plaza, no doubt something weird or cool had caught his eye. He couldn't even remember what it was.

All he remembered was the sudden sensation of utter confusion, chaos, and fear.

A bright light suddenly exploded from the stall the light-figure of Asriel had run towards, almost covering the entire map. Faintly, small dots, that happened to be seeds, could be seen without the light, the very same that had given the Day of Seeds it's name. The calling card of Flowey Gang.

"The Flowey Gang detonated a seed bomb in the middle of Ebott. Apparently, as revenge for Asgore murdering the brother of the gang's leader years before" Alphys stated "The blast caused a lot of damage, but, fortunately, you-"

"Unfortunately" Asriel cut in.

"What?"  
"There was nothing fortunate about what happened. It would have been better for all had I just done the logical thing most do when they're caught in an explosion and died" Asriel said.

Alphys tapped her claws on her table, fixing a strong glare at the goat boy "Asriel, more as a friend than your therapist, let me say, you're literally the only one who wish you hadn't survived"

"Tch, maybe…" Asriel huffed, returning Alphys look with one of his own, one that made her legs wobble when she sensed the depth of regret in his eyes.

"But none of you have tried going through what happened to me next"

Alphys nodded regrettably, letting the next scene of the light-show play out.

The plaza was in shambles, practically flattened on all sides. The figures of the unconscious Dremurr family were scattered all over.

From the edge of the map a small group of plant-like monsters, with vines for bodies and leaves for limbs, appeared.

"As far as we know, The Flowey Gang's target was the Don, but… I guess they got a better idea once they found your first" Alphys explained. Asriel could only nod, watching the figure of one of the plant monsters crouch over the figure of him, calling something to his comrades who seemed to nod their agreement with whatever he was saying.

Then, as if he was nothing more than a bag of cinnamon-coated snails, they Flowey mobber threw his unconscious body over his shoulder while another scooped up the dust of a merchant who had died in the blast and deposited it where his body had been.

The map slowly changed scene as the member of the Flowey gang departed the plaza, leaving a blasted ruin in their wake and carrying him to what would end up being a decade of torture and horror.

Alphys rounded the magical hologram, shooting him an almost apologetic look.

"Being that Ebott is kinda outside conventional society, we didn't have any DNA databases to match any of the dust at the blast site against. All we had was a pile of dust roughly at where you had been standing. If only-"

"I get it" Asriel cut in, frowning in discomfort at the memories springing forth "Though… it didn't make the waiting any easier. I held out hope that mom and dad could come and save me at any moment for almost a whole year, I never realized they thought I was dead. After a while, I… just kinda gave in to the Flowey Gang"

Alphys nodded along, waving a scaled hand at the map as it fully changed into view. Showing what appeared to be a big, open room.

"And it is there, in the Flowey Gang's treatment and torture of you, that we find the seed of your case of 'Falling Down'"

"Hah, 'seed', funny you should mention that" Asriel huffed a dark chuckle. He moved a paw to gently touch the back of his neck, and as always his fingers ran against the small patch of missing fur.

"Ah, that's right. The Flowey Gang used some kind of psychomancy-infused seeds to control their victim's minds" Alphys surmised, suddenly caressing her chin, deep in thought "Moral issues aside, that's actually an incredible feat of crossing between magictech, botany, and psychology. I mean, rendering your body immobile while retaining complete awareness is one thing, but forcing you to follow the command of a set individual, regardless of your own will, seemingly indefinitely, is, well, incredible!" Alphys burst with enthusiasm, somewhat sapped as she noticed Asriel glaring daggers into her.

His head was lowered, barring his horns towards her, as if about to ram. A character tic many of the Dreemurrs shared, Alphys realized.

"… if you think it's so 'incredible' you should try it yourself. I guarantee, it'll be something you'll never forget" he said darkly.

"Ehm, i-incredible as in, 'incredibly immoral' and, uhh, wrong" Alphys gasped.

The magical hologram started moving again, although Alphys noticed her patient was purposefully looking away. Not that she could blame him, she thought, as she saw the figure of a young Asriel being held by a pair of plant monsters in some damp basement while a third, the always-smiling sunflower-like leader of the Flowey Gang gleefully placed a small seed on the back of Asriel's neck.

The boy writhed in pain as vines slithered out to wrap around his body and limbs, even worse, she noticed small bulges beneath his clothes, suggest that the vines had gone into his body as well, completely subsuming control while leaving his mind and soul free to experience the horror.

And with that, the sullen and traumatized son of her Don had been forced into being a murderer and killer for almost a whole decade, always holding out hope for a rescue but never realizing everyone thought he was long dead.

"Despicable. Robbing an individual of their free will" Alphys hissed.

"Hmph"

"But, I guess, if I had to point out a silver lining, they did teach you how to fight, right? With magic, with weapons, with your paws"

Asriel conjured a magical sword in his paw, deftly flourishing and twirling it, as if to answer her question.

"And now you use those skills, initially meant for killing, to save people. Heh, I bet the Flowey Gang would be none too happy about that if they were still around! Hehe" Alphys attempted with a cheerful laugh but the frown on Asriel's face was so deep-set it might as well have been chiseled in.

"Why are you showing me this, Alphys?" Asriel bluntly asked after a few moments.

"Because I wanted you to realize the chain of event that lead your tragedy, that-"

" **And you think this would help!?** " Asriel angrily snapped "You're my therapist, Alphys, for all the good you've done, you're supposed to help me forget and move on from this crap, not rip the wound even wider!"

"Pl-please! Let me finish! I wanted to show you that all that led to what happened to you, you, well, you had no real control over it! None of it was your fault, Asriel, that's what I'm trying to show you!"

Asriel did not look convinced. Even if the angry scowl on his face degraded into a frown it was clear her words were not reaching him.

She took a step forward, about to explain her reasoning more in-depth when a sudden gesture from Asriel caught her attention.

Here merely waved a paw at the magical hologram. It had changed while they had argued and while it showed the same room as before, the figure of Asriel was now grown up. Vines still snaked around and within his body from the seed on the back of his neck but it was clear quite a few years had since compared to the last scene.

"The day you were rescued…" Alphys mused "I still can't believe the stroke of luck that led us to find you. We-"

"They wanted you to"

"Hmm?"

"The reason the Flowey Gang took me instead of my dad in the first place. They wanted to prepare me to kill my dad, probably slowly. They didn't just want him to die, they wanted him to suffer all the way until his final breath. They knew he despises killing, they knew making me do it to him would kill him 10 times as much as merely slitting his throat would"

"And for that, they were willing to wait for almost a decade? Just to make the Don's death that more hurtful? Huh, talk about not going for instant gratification"

"Sick bastards…" Asriel hissed, venom dripping from every word.

"Still, we were fortunate we found out before they could send you on your way. I didn't actually see any of it but Undyne told me your dad practically ran down a door and straight through a wall just to get going as fast as possible at there merest rumor you had been seen around the city"

Asriel nodded. Deep within he felt a small flicker of the immense relief he had felt back then, when his father, like a fiery demon stepping out of the pages from a fire and brimstone gospel, had kicked down the door to the small, hidden base the Flowey Gang had occupied just outside the Ebott.

A scene that was playing out on the magical hologram.

Alphys winced and groaned in horror at the sight of her Don literally tearing the plant-like monsters of Flowey Gang limb from limb, while skewering others on his powerful trident. Only a few seconds in and the floor was already a sludge of blood mixed with monster dust.

All the while, the figure of Asriel stood stock still in a corner of the room. His last command had been to "stay put" and thus he had, even with magic and screams of pain filling the room.

"Jeez, I guess I know how your dad got so many thugs and hooligans to follow him. This is just a small hologram and I almost feel ready to fall to my knees and beg for mercy!" Alphys winced, gasping at the scene of the Don pinning one of the plant monsters to the floor with his foot while another leaped onto his back in an attempt to choke him. The Don pulled weed off as easily as he might take off a cape and threw it down onto the one already on the floor before spearing his trident down, impaling them both in one stroke.

"Ouch, for someone who's usually so averse to killing he sure didn't hold anything back" Alphys mused.

"It was Flowey's revenge for my dad killing his brother that led to all of this"

"Hmm, maybe the thinking went 'there's not going to be any revenge if there's no one left alive to take it'?" Alphys sweatdropped as the figure of Asgore let out a gout of fire that enveloped a group of Flowey gangers, leaving them writhing and screaming on the floor as the magical flames consumed them.

Just then, a single plant monster leapt from the shadows behind the Don, unleashing a burst of pellets that exploded against his back, sending him down on a knee before he could force himself around, just in time to block a thorn-like dagger stabbed down at his face.

"Flowey" Asriel hissed, feeling his revulsion rise in his throat at the sight of his tormentor, looking very much like his lesser minions but covered in thorns from feet to stem to his sunflower-like head, sporting a slasher grin revealing thorns for teeth.

The devious plant monster dived under Asgore's trident, disappearing into the soil before exploding from the ground at the Don's flank a second later, slashing out with the knife in a move that opened the Don from hip nearly up to his armpit in a spray of blood.

The Don retaliated as best he could, but the flower was too fast, disappearing into the ground before the larger monster could attack and hitting him from the back and sides.

Mere moments later and the ground at Asgore's feet was slick with blood and monster dust.

Asriel couldn't help but feel tension and fear at the fight – Flowey would only need a few more good hits before his dad succumbed, but he knew it was a baseless and irrational fear. Him being here, away from Flowey's influence, was proof enough of how the fight eventually ended.

Sure enough, he saw the hologram of his dad reeling from a slice to his back before suddenly stomping his foot down, flaming determination in his eyes, and then stabbing his trident to his right.

Just as Flowey erupted from it, thorn-knife raised to deliver a coup de grace, but instead of finding the Don's exposed flank the flower monster instead found three sharpened prongs.

With a *Splotch* Flowey was perforated through the chest and stomach, spraying chlorophyllic blood on the ground that hissed with acidic properties and malignant residue from the heart of evil it had passed through moments prior.

The Don's trident started glowing a baleful red and though Flowey tried to mouth a plea for mercy none was forthcoming. Instead, a beam of magical fire lanced out from the trident, launching the flower monster as if shot from a cannon. His charred husk flew across the room, smashing into the far wall before coming to a rest on the floor as a charred mangle of smoldering leaves and broken stems.

Asriel turned away from the scene. Though the death of the cruel flower was something he would be happy for to his dying day, he knew that Flowey wasn't the next to die that day.

The scene played out in his head in far more vivid detail than the holographic projection behind him ever could.

Flowey, somehow still clinging to life, raising a hand towards motionless Asriel, still forced to stand still as a statue because of the magical seed on the back of his neck, and fired a burst of friendliness pellets that would have killed him.

And then, like the guardian angel he was and would always be, Chara, having followed dad into the Flowey Gang's den, leapt from the shadows, putting himself in between him and the pellets.

And then the impact, followed by the horrid 'thud' of Chara's lifeless body collapsing on the ground.

Asriel had witnessed, even propagated a lot of tragedy in his unwilling service to the Flowey Gang, and while he hadn't been in control of his body for the entirety of that nightmare, his body hadn't been in control of his emotions either.

The result had been two dark stains running down from his eyes, the permanent reminder of a lost decade, courtesy of tears he had been unable to wipe away.

But no matter how horrid the abominations he had committed as a forced killer had been, the sight of Chara falling to the ground had been too much.

Not just for him, but also for the seed controlling him, the psycho-magic being unable to contain the emotional eruption of its host.

Thus, Asriel's first, willing actions in ten years had been to collapse to his knees and let out a wail of loss and denial.

In an act of mercy, Alphys stopped the holographic projection before that could happen, casting the room into a pregnant silence.

"Such a tragedy, simply horrendous" Alphys said after a few moments "Neither the Don nor the Queenpin has been the same since that horrible day. If I ever get to make a time-machine this would definitely be on my list of 'crap-to-change', time-ethics be damned… or, wait, maybe it would better to go even further back and stop the bombing? But then the Flowey might have done another, more devastating plan. On the other hand, I could-"

"Why did you show me this, Alphys?" Asriel cut in.

"We-well, as I said, it to show you visually that none of what happened was your fault. The explosion in the market, your kidnapping, the psycho-magic, you had no control over any of that"

Asriel turned to face the lizard monster, an unimpressed scowl on his face "Really? That's what you think? Even with your magical hologram spelling it all out for you, showing you all the nitty-gritty details, that's what you still think? Pfft, some therapist you are…" he scoffed.

Alphys nervously clutched her hands to her chest "Wh-what do you mean? Did I- Did I miss something in the recording?"

"Only the most important part; how I broke free from the seed's control"

"That? We-well, I assume that was because the controlling agent, Flowey, expired?"

"Nope, Flowey had nothing to do with it"

"Then… I don't know, maybe-"

"I did it" Asriel cut in. "When I saw Chara die, it was like… I was filled up with so much horror there wasn't any room for the seed, so it was expelled, in a way"

"I see" Alphys said as she scribbled in her notepad again "So it was actually an act of love that saved you? Chara's sacrifice gave you the impetus you needed to break free?"

"It did" Asriel said with finality. That, along with the expectant look he gave Alphys gave the little lizard the impression that there was a conclusion she wasn't quite seeing yet.

"I-is that why you feel the need to put yourself in danger? Some kind of need to live up to Chara's example?" She mused.

"No, I could never do that" he shook his head "Don't you see, Alphys? Chara gave me the strength to free myself, yes, but he also made me realize I had had it within me to do so from the start. I could have freed myself so much earlier had I just… had I just been stronger" His paws clenched at his sides.

"Nearly a decade, Alphys. I spent nearly a decade forced to kill and murder and spread terror, and I was horrified all the while, first begging for it to stop, and then that whoever I was targeting would have the strength to fight back and kill me, I just wanted it to end. I made brothers weep over the corpses of their siblings, wives over their husbands, and parents over their children, and each time I felt ready to burst… But it just wasn't enough!"

He slammed a paw into the wall, half embedding it into the plaster.

"If it really was an emotional shock that removed the seed, then any normal person, anyone decent would have been able to free themselves long before I did. But not me, no no no, it took Chara throwing his life away for a lost cause like me before it was finally enough, before pitiful little crybaby Asriel couldn't cut it anymore!"

He ripped his paw out of the wall and swung it at a table, knocking a vase to the floor.

"That's why I'm still responsible for all the people I killed while in the Flowey Gang! I wasn't merely an unwilling observer, I just wasn't strong enough to stop what my body was doing. Yet even though all those people and Chara had to die because of that, I still get to live. I get to live in a cozy palace, never wanting for anything. How can anyone consider an ending where the villain gets to live and the hero dies a satisfying one? How can anyone live like that without going mad? I know I can't"

Alphys's eyes were unmoving behind the lenses of her glasses, nevertheless showing off an intensity that told of all the thoughts and theories racing behind them.

"This… will require some more looking into" she said after a few moments, almost in a daze.

"Don't bother. 'Just-"

"No, Asriel, I WILL bother" Alphys cut in with startling authority "Because even with these new insights, my conclusion still stands; you aren't to blame, you CAN be helped and you DO deserve to be happy. In fact, I think we made excellent progress today"

"Oh yeah, ripping the wounds even wider sure is what the doctor ordered" Asriel hissed.

"I'll have to look more into this, but I thank you for being so willing to open more up, Asriel. Maybe next time we can really begin to tackle your issues and-"

"I won't hold my breath" Asriel turned for the door with a dismissive growl.

"W-wait! I have something for you to do until next time!" Alphys squealed, almost drowning out Asriel's groan as he heard the pitter-patter of her feet waddle after him.

"Alphys, just stop, it won't-" He began as he turned to face the incoming scaled missile, but was forced to abort as Alphys slammed a book into his gut in eagerness

"Uff, wha- what's this?" he wheezed, holding the volume up.

"It's a new book on healing troubled souls, just came out, guess who wrote it!"

"Great, now you're trying to shill your merchandise one me, what a-" the words died in his mouth as he saw 'Toriel Dreemurr' stamped on the top of the book, just above the tittle itself;

**_TORIEL DREEMURR_ **

**_The Queenpin's Tu-Toriel to healing troubled and ailing souls_ **

The letters were written in all the rainbow's colors, imposed on a purple cover smattered with heart-shaped souls of every virtue.

"Wha- mom made this?" Asriel gasped.  
"Yup! Already read it, she lacks some of the more scientific approaches to the theorems of the psychological practices, but, my word, I felt like a better person after just a few pages!" Alphys said, almost giggling.

"I can't believe she went with a title like that…"

"We-well, unethical nomenclature aside, I think it could really help you. Try reading what you can until next time, promise me?"

"… I'll see about it"

"Great, that's all I'm asking!"

Asriel wordlessly reached for the door and left, sensing the lizard was spinning up another bout of gushing and wanting to get out of the way.

The lobby outside was bathed in bright sunlight, tinted a hint of green due to shinning through a pastoral landscape painted on the glass doors leading to the streets outside. Even the air seemed to smell just like a nice summer day, even inside the building.

Even Asriel had to admit it all felt cheery.

He lifted to book to his face again, mulling over the cover, then cracking it open and going over the preface.

" _… There is no better physician than time, who heals all wounds. There is no better medicine than love, who cures all that ails, and there are no better surgeons than true companions and family, who can pull any thorn from your heart._

 _But likewise, is there no storm as fierce as the one who can gale through the soul, and no rocks in which the ship we carry our hopes can be dashed upon more jagged than the ones molded from our fears and doubts. It is my fervent hope that this book can be your port in your storm, in which you can learn to find the courage within you to embrace those who love you, and learn with time that love is for everyone!"_ He read aloud.

"Huh…"

The sound of the book tumbling into a trash bin was closely followed by the door closing shut in a manner that somehow managed to sound dismissive, leaving the lobby still filled with cheerful sunlight and atmosphere but with no one to enjoy it.

Save for the ghostly figure of Chara, standing beside the bin, looking at the slowly vanishing figure of his brother through the glass door with a worried frown.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're almost done with the Introdcutionary chapters. After the next, we'll really start getting in the nitty-gritty. have no doubt!
> 
> See ya next Friday!


	4. S.O.D

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we're back.

"A-are you sure you want to go through with this, Sierra? I mean, my history with the Don taken into consideration, I'm… I'm not sure he's going to like it"

"Your history is your history, Alphys. I've heard it a few times by now – your old boss tried getting creative with the results of your research and that got your panties in a knot, but rest assured, I won't have a problem like that. Once I wave this moneymaker under his nose he's gonna salivate more than the dupes at my Uncle's BBQ. He wouldn't expect something as daring as this from you, but from me? A nobody newcomer? Heh, don't worry, boss, it's in the bag"

"I'm not so sure, bu-but I'll keep my finger's crossed"

"Yeah, you do that while I go get rich"

"O-ok, ehhm, see you tomorrow, and good luck!"

Alphy's well-wishing was ignored by everyone save the wind and the moon as Sierra traipsed down the stairs from their lab and towards her car, a reinforced steel briefcase in hand, leaving Alphys alone nervously wringing her hands before going inside and coming back out with her gaudy mewmew jacket, headed for home.

For a short spell, all was quiet at the Ebott lab, until a rustling in the bushes beside the parking lot revealed a group of hiding figures.

"Alright, looks like the coast is clear. 'bout friggin' time too" the first figure said as he emerged. A tall, wolf-like monster sporting a matted but long dull-blonde mane, a dirty gray hoodie and holed jeans.

"Yeah, you said it, Cor. I don't like hiding in bushes, I think I got a small garden worth of leaves in my eye" the second figure emerged. A thuggish-looking loox with a backwards cap and several ring-piercings surrounding its eye.

"Shut your trap, I didn't bring you along for your commentary" Cor snorted before turning his attention to the bush they crawled out from "And that goes doubly for you, Kuro. Get your feathery ass out here" he barked, giving a swift kick to the bush, eliciting a startled yelp.

"S-sorry, I'm coming" A meek voice responded as the third figure crawled out. A petite, crow-like monster wearing a home-knitted pink sweater and light-blue skirt.

"'Atta girl. Keep this up and by the time we're through you'll actually have done something interesting in your life for once" Cor said before leaning down to Kuro, digging a finger into the hem of her shirt to pull her face closer to his "Of course, if you make a mess of things… I'll be taking more than just your lunch money" the threat seeped from him as he licked his chops.

"Pl-please, I won't cause any trouble" Kuro whimpered, weakly trying to push herself away.

"Wow Cor, you're soooo cool, you really put her in her place" The loox gasped excitedly.

"Well, it's like my dear ol' dad always says. Gotta put the women-folk in their place so you can put yourself above them. That's why I got like 5- no, 7 girlfriends"

"Woah, 7 girlfriends!? That's like… 7 more than I have!"

"Just try and keep up and maybe we'll have you make out with more than just the schoolyard fountain before the years' over"

"R-really!?" The loox gasped, the pupil of his eye expanding as he imagined his future.

"Sure, now shut up and follow me"

The trio sneaked through the bushes to the back of the lab, Cor hissing an insult each time the loox stepped on a branch or Kuro whimpered, until they came to rest in front of a service entrance door hidden in the shrubbery.

"Alright, this is it. Time for you to do the one thing you're actually not totally worthless at, looxie, go pick the lock" Cor ordered.

"O-oh, you really put me in my place too…" The loox whimpered.

"It's like my dad always says; better to raise your voice at someone else than raise your hands in effort, now get your finger outta your hole and into this one" Cor nodded at the keyhole in the door before turning to Kuro, cowering before him as he did.

"And you, you know the deal, being the most pathetic nerd in school. Once we get inside, you're gonna find me something nice and sciency and expensive I can sell on. Need the dough for my kegger"

"I-I, are you sure this is a good idea? I mean, we're stealing-" Kuro protested.

"News flash, genius, this is Ebott. Theft is literally the local pastime"

"But we're talking about stealing from the Don himself! This is his lab! We could get in so much trouble!"

"Pfft, if you worried half as much about not being a dork as you worry about this maybe you'd actually have a friend or two" Cor scoffed and kneeled down on his haunches, leaning his face close to Kuro's.

"Our oh-so-great and magnanimous boss has more than enough moolah to coat each of his hairs in gold with diamond filigree. What we're doing is nothing, it's like my dad always says; it's ok to bite the hand that feeds you as long as you only take a finger or two"

"Bu-but what about security? And the cameras and-"

"Oh my god, stop whining!" Cor barked and lashed out with a slap that sent Kuro to the ground as a quivering mess with a pained sob.

"Nothings' gonna happen. A friend of my dad told me all the cameras are down for maintenance tonight, and the Don only hires security if his pet nerd is working on something important, so there's nothing to worry about, see?" Cor leaned down to the shaking Kuro who was meekly attempting to hold back years while nursing her reddish chin.

"So, be a good bird, find me something nice and pricey and we're good. Hell, I might even invite you to my kegger if you do a good enough job" He said, taking Kuro by the arm and harshly lifting her up.

"R-really?" She whimpered.

"Sure… I'm gonna need a clean-up crew after all. Now get up"

"Hah! Got it!" The loox suddenly called, turning from the door as Cor approached with Kuro in tow.

"About time. Took any longer and Kuro might've started gushing about the Vigilante like she always does" Cor huffed.

"Yeah, well, I'm actually kinda proud of it. Took double the effort" The loox excitedly whooped.

"Hm? Whaddya mean?"

"The door was unlocked from the start! So when I lockpicked it the first time I actually locked it, so I had to lockpick it again to open it up again. See? Double the effort!"

Cor starred at the loox with an empty gaze, the slight twitching of his curled paws the only hint of emotion. After a few moments, he took a deep sigh, shaking his head.

"It's too bad we've wasted too much time already, otherwise I'd have half a mind to give you double the ass-kicking for your double effort" he snapped.

"Huh, guess it's my lucky day, then" The loox mused.

"Well, it's not mine I'll tell you that for free. Now get outta my way" Cor said and delivered a swift kick to the loox that sent it tumbling through the door.

* * *

\--

If anything could ever make the difference of origin between the two rulers of Asgore's mob clearer to Sierra it would have a hard time to outdo the moment she entered their meeting room for her presentation. The room wasn't as big as might be expected of crime bosses with the influence and capital of a small nation. The round, oaken table to which the participants were to be seated was plain and didn't put any one seat in any kind of implied superiority over the others, and the windows providing an uninteresting overview of the Dreemurr Mansion's parking lot.

It spoke of the modesty, plainness and unassumingness of a personality that hadn't let wealth or power change their core values. It bore a simple message, that in here everyone was equal.

Conversely, the core of that message abandoned Sierra the moment a chill went up her feet from stepping on the polished marble floor, the veins magically transmogrified into the stylized "D" of the Dreemurr mob. Sierra had already gotten an inkling of the more imperial themes of the room from the white, ivory pillars supporting the ceiling with alabaster parapets that flanked the doorframe she had entered the room through, compounded even more as the windows, though only showing the parking lot, bore embossment in their glass that seemed to illustrate the story of Asgore's rise to his position and Toriel's flight from her controlling father. All of this cast in light from a chandelier blazing with all the rainbow's colors, each just strong enough to cancel each other out and not bathe the room in any one color, save a pleasant golden hue that seemed that cast every person present in a confident and benevolent light.

Asgore's and Toriel's origin at each end of the social ladder made manifest in clashing-without-becoming-too-garish decor that, while probably intended to comfort, took Sierra aback for a few moments as she entered. No doubt an expected reaction as she noticed the Don's amused chuckle at the end of the meeting table, pleasantly accompanied by the beautiful and calming smile of his wife beside him.

Sierra whistled at the sight of it all "Well fan my flames and call me fiery, did I enter a mobsters lair or a museum art piece?"

"Hah, well, you have my wife to thanks for the decor. She thought we should have it represent both of us while I wanted something simple… so we compromised and got it to represent both of us" the Don chuckled and rose from his chair, spreading his arms as if inviting the fire elemental in for a hug from the other end of the room.

"Good of you to come!" His voice boomed with warmth "I regret we couldn't make it earlier but, golly, if I said running a mob this size was easy they would call The Grandest Liar Alive"

"All fine with me" Sierra replied "Just meant I had more time getting the greatest thing since sliced bread ready for the presentation"

"That does sound interesting" Asgore said, amused, before turning to his wife to his left.

"Allow me to present the people who will preside over your presentation then; my lovely wife who needs no introduction" The Don cooed before leaning down for a quick peck on the cheek.

"And, while perhaps not as lovely as my Tori, the no less important officers of the Mob that helps us keep the lights on and money flowing" Asgore presented, introducing the Dreemurr Mob Lieutenants and captains that flanked the table one by one.

Sera gave a court nod to each one, understanding more and more at each greeting the importance of the moment. She was in the Lion's Den and these were the lions in the jungle that was Ebott.

"And, as an evaluator of your product's profitability in the, shall we say, more lawful sector, the biggest fish in the sea and my right paw; Stormstarh" Asgore boomed as he turned to his towards a large, sharply-dressed shark-monster sitting a few seats away to the Don's right, finishing the introductions.

The monster smiled, revealing rows of an apex predator's razor teeth as he nodded a greeting towards Sierra.

"Enchanted. I'm excited to see what you got for us Ms. Hayephaystus. Sliced bread was quite the hit back in the day I hear"

"This is going to do more than hit. It's gonna sweep your legs from out under you" Sierra strode confidently forward, plonking her steel briefcase down on the table and ominously clicked the latches open.

"I'm sure you're aware of Alphys's biggest breakthrough in recent time; the artificial synthesization of one of the chief soul aspects; Determination" Sierra began, slowly panning her vision left to right to build suspense.

"An incredible feat chemistry and magic, but of regrettably little use to us monsters as Determination can be highly lethal. To that end, I have decided to follow Alphy's footsteps but down a different path. I have studied her notes as treasure maps to unplumbed opportunities and through months of work I have come upon my ultimate achievement!" Sierra boomed as she thrust a vial filled with a black liquid into the air for all to see "My soul-based conversion agent; Soulific Oxysulfide Determinicalium! S.O.D, or, as I like to call it… The Stuff Of Dreams!" Sierra grandly boasted, the hue of her fires subtly changing to a bright yellow to cast herself and the S.O.D in an even more golden light.

"The Stuff Of Dreams… quite the, hah, imperious name for such an ominous-looking thing" Don Asgore chuckled, warily regarding the vial in Sierra's hand "And what did you say it was? A conversion agent? So, you can talk to it?"

"Uhh, what? No, it's a 'conversion' agent, not 'conversation'" Sierra replied.

"You must forgive my husband's limited vocabulary. He may be the head of one of the largest illicit organizations in the world but sometimes he forgets to pull his own head out of his backside" Toriel interceded as gently as a summer breeze in a stifling room.

"T-Tori, please, not in front of the others" Asgore whimpered as a blush spread across his cheeks.

"Ms. Hayephaestus" Stormstahr suddenly cut in "Giving that your S.O.D is soul-based I'd assume it does not use the regular chemical compounds for conversions, like zirconium or vanadium, so what exactly is your S.O.D meant to convert?" The shark monster put to her.

If Sierra had eyebrows she mused for a second that one would be raised in impression at Stormstahr's chemistry knowledge "Something of great value to people in your position" she coyly grinned.

"Oh?"

"When I set out to make S.O.D I asked myself 'what does every self-respecting mob boss always need?' money, for one, but also ready and able paws willing to get dirty. In a word… goons!"

"Goons?" Asgore raised an eyebrow at the sudden turn "Well… I suppose…"

"And then, I asked myself, what does a mob comprised mostly of monsters lack compared to humans?" Sierra continued.

"I am not sure I like where this is going…" Toriel whispered.

"As a species, we monsters lack the physical robustness, toughness and strength of humans. We make up for it in magic and a greater propensity towards kindness and compassion, which, as I'm sure you can understand, doesn't mesh well with being in a mob" Sierra clutched the vial to her chest, looking over the other occupants in the room with a low, serious voice.

"The only real way for a monster to get anywhere near a human's strength and toughness is through gaining LOVE with violent actions, a process that is neither quick, easy, cheap or pleasant… but that is why I am here today, to offer you a solution"

Sierra raised the vial high, letting light from the chandelier above refract through the black liquid inside, casting the room in a dark but powerful hue.

"That, ladies and gentlemen, is what my magnum opus, my Stuff Of Dreams can do. By converting a monster's excess kindness and compassion into LOVE, we can essentially mass-produce monsters with all the strengths of both races but none of the weaknesses! The simple Tem can be a whirling ball of death! The meek Migosp an aerial predator of the skies! The smoldering Pyrope a blaze of fiery vengeance! The unassuming Woshua a tidal wave of destruction!...

All through a few drops from this simple glassware…" Sierra finished, enjoying the stunned looks of the Don and his wife.

* * *

\--

"Oh my god, dude, could you make less of a racket!?" Cor snorted at the Loox on the floor.

"S-sorry Cor, I banged my head something fierce on the door when you punted me through it"

"I didn't punt you, I helped you through it, like what a good friend would do. You should thank me"

"Oh, ok, well thank yo-uurrff" The Loox wheezed as Cor stepped on him on his way into the room.

Kuro followed him through, making sure to step around the wriggling Loox. She brushed against a guardrail and took a look down.

They were on a gantry suspended above rows of vats, some empty, some holding liquids of dubious nature.

"Huh, guess we're on the inspection bridge" Cor mussed as he picked up a clipboard hanging from the guardrail "Hydrochloric Acid. Au – Molten. Soulific Ox-Oxe- holy crap – Soulific Oxysulfide Determi- Determinicalium… what the hell, who comes up with these names?" He grunted

"W-Wait, did you say Au?" Kuro asked as she stepped up to him.

"Kuro, I know being a loser dweeb is practically in your DNA, but I'm sure Au means something else than 'Alternate Universe', what, you're thinking of writing a fic about the Vigilante being a chemist or something?"

"No! I mean… yes, but no, Au is gold"

"Kuro, oh my god, fanfics are not g-"

"No, not fanfics! On the chemical table Au the designation for gold!" She gasped "Which means there might be a whole vat of molten gold right below us. Could we- maybe we could take that and get out of here… before we get into trouble?"

Cor let out a disappointed sigh, dragging a paw across his face "Kuro, you barely got the strength to change into your gym clothes for PE, how'd you imagine you would lift an entire vat of molten gold out of here?"

"Well… maybe you could…" Kuro meekly tried, touching the tips of the quills on her hands together in embarrassment.

"Thank you for the vote of confidence, but even with the retard-strength of the whats-his-name Loox we got with us I seriously doubt we could vamoose with a 5-ton vat of molten gold. 'Sides, the hell am I gonna do with _molten_ gold? Pour it in a cup and have it served? I need something tangible, not liquid assets, or whatever you call it!" Cor snorted, whipping Kuro across the head with the clipboard.

"Dumb bird, I brought you along 'cause you're the class nerd. If I'd have known you were this dense I might as well have brought my pet rock instead" He hissed.

"Hey guys, what about them boxy boxes over here?" The Loox suddenly called from a small stack of crates.

Cor gave a quick, annoyed growl before stomping over, just as the Loox managed to get the lid off of one of the crates, revealing layers of styrofoam stacked on top of another inlaid with vials holding a clear liquid.

"Whaddya got?" Cor snorted.

"Dunno, looks like water" The Loox replied.

"… Water?"

"Hah, yeah, that's funny, I think that's what comes out of the faucet in my bathroom at home, too"

"… Loox, I swear to god-"

"Wow, there must be at least a thousand here"

"It says 999 here on the side"

"Wait, that's NPH Isophane" Kuro suddenly gasped from behind Cor.

The larger monster looked over his shoulder down at the smaller bird with thinly-veiled irritation "You talking smack, Kuro?"

"No no, that's not water, it's insulin! NPH Isophane is a kind of insulin!"

"Insulin? You mean that medicine for lardasses who can't keep their fingers from the cookie jar?"

"Well… you can be born with it too… like my mom…" Kuro meekly tried, cowering.

"Woah, wait a sec, your moms' a diabetic fatass? Sheesh, Kuro, you're making it too easy. Guess all those 'your mom' jokes were more on point than I thought" Cor chuckled.

"Says here they're for the queenpin's giveaway next week" The Loox read from a note on the crate.

"Well, if the bosses' missus was going to give it away anyway, this barely counts as stealing. Hell, they're probably stolen from somewhere else in the first place. It's like my dad always says; if someone extends an olive branch, uproot their whole garden. Loox, you take those four crates, I'll carry the rest"

"Wait, no! You can't do that!" Kuro protested with a jump.

"Chill out you dumb bird, I know insulin ain't exactly molten gold, but I know a way to turn most medicine into hooch. Call it a, heh, family recipe. Perfect for my kegger"

"You don't understand! Without this medicine, people could die!"

"You mean diabetics could die, oughta teach them to lay off the sugar" Cor snorted as he bent down to pick up one of the crates.

"C-Cor, please! Don't do this!" Kuro begged, tugging on the wolf-monster's sleeves "Coul-couldn't you at least leave one crate behind so people don't-"

"Do you have any idea how many people I've invited for the kegger? No can do, I'm gonna need every last drop"

"Please, don't…"

"And get your hands off me you dumb bitch!" Cor growled, batting her away and sending her to the floor with a crash.

Kuro sobbed in pain and fear, tears ran down her beak as she weakly tried to pick herself up, made harder as a consuming feeling of helplessness made her limbs feel heavy, and the horror of knowing there was nothing she could do as Cor and Loox carried the life-saving medicine away.

"Please… my mom needs it…" she sobbed.¨

"So do I" Cor chuckled "That's the good thing about Ebott, there's nothing stopping you from taking what you want from those below you"

"Hnngh…"

"That's why weak losers like you are always gonna end up under the boot of winners like me. It's not about what kind of monster you are, it's all about the attitude, about having the guts to take what you want and give nothing back"

"You… you can't…"

"Do something about it then" Cor laughed heartily "Man, you really are pathetic. Can't do nothin' but sit and cry" he gave a curt gesture as he turned towards the exit "Whelp, guess we're done here. See you in class tomorrow, Kuro. And say hi to your mom for me" The wolf chuckled.

The feeling of powerlessness suffused Kuro's body to the point it made her feel completely numb. Her breaths came out as panicked sobs and her limbs tense to the point that her quills were protruding like spikes.

What made it all worse was that she knew Cor was right. This was Ebott, the City of Thieves. Even if it was found out Cor had stolen from the Don chances were he would be lauded as a kind of hero for daring to steal from the boss. At worst he would get a slap on the wrist.

But for her, she now had to face up to having put her mom in danger of dying, but that was the reality of it all. Cor was strong, therefore he could take what he wanted without a second's thought from the weak.

It was all too much. Within her she felt a smoldering ember of resentment flare up. Maybe she was weak, but that was another thing about Ebott.

You always had the opportunity to become strong.

"I… won't let you…" She hissed as she finally managed to stand up.

"Pfft, whatever" Cor scoffed.

"I…won't… LET YOU!" Kuro screamed and dived at the wolf like an eagle spotting prey.

All Cor managed was a stupefied "Huh?" before a black-feathered missile suddenly smashed into him, sending the crates flying in all directions and Cor into the guardrail. All Cor's world consisted off was black feathers and screeching as he tried to fight off Kuro, and he grunted as he could feel her talons and quills rip and slash at him.

"GET OFF ME YOU STUPID BIRD!" He howled to little effect as he frantically tried to cover his face.

"Wow, you guys are acting just like my parents" The Loox commented from the side, still holding the crates.

"I SAID GET OFF- AARRH!" Cor screamed as Kuro managed to clamp her beak down on his fingers and he felt bone being crushed.

The sudden rush of pain spurred him to action and with a scream of pain and desperation, Cor grabbed Kuro by the shoulders and threw her off with all his strength.

He rolled onto his side, clutching his bloody mess of paw to his chest " **You friggin' psycho! What's wrong with you!?** " He snarled.

But as he looked up at Kuro the hot anger in his chest turned cold with fear.

The bird-monster, beak, and talons still flecked with blood were hanging from the guardrail just above one of the vats.

"SHIT! NO!" Cor barked as he leapt to catch her before she fell, running past the vacuous loox who had a finger buried in his nose, but already he could tell it would be too late. Her feathers and talons too slick with blood, she fell with a scream just as he dived to catch her. All he got for his efforts was the sight of Kuro falling into a vat filled with a black liquid, her screams silenced by a wet splash.

* * *

\--

Sierra practically had to clench her jaw shut to keep herself from cackling at the display in front her. The leadership of the Dreemurr mob, all flabbergasted at the well-proportioned moneymaker she had presented them.

"Not bad for the niece of a burger flipper, huh?" she grinned "And just to point out the ease of manufacture, I'm sure you'll be pleased to know I have a vat with enough S.O.D to supply the Dreemurr mob's entire outfit back at the lab set and ready to go"

Sierra mentally chided herself for leaving her phone at home as a courtesy to the Don and his wife. Had she had it she would have taken a picture of the amazed faces of the Dreemurrs for posterity.

Amazed at her S.O.D! Amazed at her genius! Amazed at her!

She let out an involuntary guffaw. Hurriedly, she cleared her throat to try and cover it up and spread her arms wide. Time to strike while the iron was hot and seal the deal.

"So, how about it? Are we ready to spin some gold or are we just gonna leave money on the table?" she beamed.

The two Dreemurrs shared one last look before settling into apprehensive frowns that were a little too dismissive for Sierra's like.

Asgore scooted forward in his chair and folded his paws, taking a deep breath before he spoke.

"Ms. Sierra Hayephaestus, I think the answer on both me and my wife's mind is an unfortunate-"

" **Absolutely Fucking Not!** "

Sierra almost extinguished at the sudden outburst, not just at the shouting but also at how the grand and baritone Don's rumbling voice suddenly turned feminine without losing any of its authority.

What really confused her was how even the Don seemed taken aback. Right up until the answer presented herself, in the form of a walking suit of armor, stepping out of the shadows from behind the Dreemurrs, a red ponytail trailing from the helmet while a blue orb blazed from the visor.

The knight's presence was a complete anomaly to her, and therefore, as a scientist, supremely aggravating as well. She hadn't even noticed the imposing knight at all. Her only solace was that her outburst seemed to be aimed at Don Asgore and not at her.

"Look, Asgore, I don't give a hoot if this witch is Alphys's assistant or the king of my ass, we are NOT peddling that poison to the guys!" she snarled.

"U-Undyne, please" Asgore stammered.

The only island of calm on the other side of the table, Toriel, leaned forward, apparently unaffected at the storm raging at her husband and still focused on her.

"Ms. Hayephaestus, despite Undyne's brusqueness I feel she does well to elucidate our reception towards your S.O.D" She said.

Sierra felt her inner fires turn blue in a cold denial at what was happening and how quickly it had all turned around on her.

"Have you given any thought to what your S.O.D would actually do to people?" she just barely had enough composure to realize Toriel was asking.

"Of course I have, I just finished explaining that not two minutes ago" she replied with more venom than intended, but goddammit, what was happening!?

"Have you worked out any countermeasures, maybe an antidotal solution that could reverse the effects of your S.O.D?" Stormstahr suddenly cut in.

It was like a kick on the gut. If she had then maybe she could turn things back around but she hadn't even considered an antidote – why would anyone want a cure for being stronger, tougher and faster?

"Given the nature of souls, an 'antidote' for LOVE is… unfeasible" she managed, not quite a lie, not quite the whole truth.

"So, essentially, there's no way to, how to put this… restore someone who has used S.O.D to their former selves?" Stormstarh continued.

"Fuck's sake, lay off…"

"What?"  
"I mean, no, not at present, no"

The shark monster's frown as he scribbled something on his notepad felt like a hammer strike on a nail in her coffin. Both he and Toriel were obviously put off, only the Don remained but the big guy was still getting his ear chewed off by Undyne.

"I feel like I need to ask, have you attempted any clinical trials?" Toriel chimed in again. She couldn't help but notice a hint of warning in the otherwise gentle monster's voice.

"You mean if I have actually tested S.O.D on live subjects? What kind of monster do you take me for?"

"Goodness, that is a relief..." Toriel sighed.

"Of course I have, I wouldn't present something like this without proof to its effect, now, would I?" She said, producing a bundle of pictures from the suitcase and sliding them across the table towards the Dreemurrs.

"It was hard finding people to test on, but we had a cluster of Vegetoids growing out behind the lab, told them I had this new fertilizer I wanted to try on them" She explained. She remembered the exchange with the vegetable monsters with no small amount of fondness. A group of test subjects, right at her workplace, and better yet, a group of monsters of a type no one really took seriously – if something went wrong with them, no one would care if the veggies turned into vegetables.

And then again, she wasn't lying; her fertilizer **was** going to make them stronger, although she hadn't expected the LOVE in the S.O.D to make the vegetoids grow hard shells, cactus-like spines and for their juices and sap to turn downright poisonous.

Only made them better goons… if anyone ever needs a bunch of intimidating veggies to sort out unruly weeds, she had concluded.

The Dreemurrs, Stormstahr, and Undyne perused the pictures of the Vegetoid's transformation with the same shocked expressions as before, though, by now she realized this probably wasn't a good thing.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Undyne, surprisingly, was the first to speak.

"What?"

"You poisoned them!"

That was it, no more Ms. Nice Scientist.

"You keep using that word, poison, do you even know what it means, or have you hit your head too much, you damn sardine soldier!? I made them stronger, I didn't poison them!" She snarled.

The single blue flame in Undyne's visor flared up in response as she stood to her full height. She was an imposing and intimidating sight yet Sierra was not about to back down. Though she was quietly grateful there was a large table separating the two of them.

"And what would a little lab rat like you know about being strong!? You, who've never left the safety of your sterile lab environments. Who are you to decide what a monster does or doesn't need to be strong!? You can't research bravery, you can't bottle strength, you can't study to become courageous. You have to actually experience where LOVE comes from and what it can do to a monster to know just how insanely dangerous and incredibly stupid your S.O.D is!" Undyne snarled.

" **What Did You Just Call It!?** "

"ENOUGH! BOTH OF YOU!" The Don's powerful voice boomed through the room, hitting Sierra like a slap to the face that knocked all the spite out of her and replaced it with cold fear at the realization of her behavior in front of her boss.

Asgore almost looked like a completely different person. His usual warm and welcoming appearance was now all sharp edges and accusing authority, while the verdant green of his eyes now was more of a sea of acid deep enough to drown the whole room in.

Luckily, the Don aimed his smoldering gaze towards Undyne instead of her.

"Undyne, while I, as always, appreciate your blunt honesty in all things, I would very much appreciate if you did not interrupt proceedings like this in the future. Do I make myself clear?"

Incredibly, the boisterous knight actually seemed to shrink beneath the Don's scrutiny and the flaming orb of her eye almost dissipated completely.

"Yes boss, sorry boss" She said as bowed her head, all vitriol gone from her voice.

Satisfied, Asgore turned his attention towards Sierra. She had to make a conscious effort to keep her flames from sputtering in sheer fright.

"Ms. Hayephaestus, I don't think there's anything left unsaid regarding your S.O.D. It is an incredible feat of magitek and chemistry, no doubt. But it is also incredibly dangerous and, I must say, supremely irresponsible"

"D-Don Asgore, please, I-"

" **I'm not finished!** " The Don cut in and Sierra wasn't too ashamed to admit to a small whimper.

"You are clearly a talented and intelligent young lady, which is why it baffles me why you would ever expect us to agree to your so-called Stuff Of Dreams. Some mobs might be willing to sell out their underling's souls for profit, but if you had done even the slightest bit of research on us you would know; **Not Us!** "

Toriel leaned forward, paws clasped and a stern look aimed at Sierra. "See this as a learning experience, young Hayephaestus. We might be more willing to accept the fruits of controversial science than others, but even in a place like Ebott, maybe especially in a place like Ebott, it is important to never take your heart out of your work. Profit is important, but not if it comes at the expense of our souls. The only thing something like your S.O.D would propagate would be suffering and chaos, not wealth or strength"

The dual barbs of her S.O.D's rejection and her scolding were almost too much for Sierra to bear. Never before had she been so indignified, even the knowledge that her burger-flipping uncle was a greater star than her was completely overshadowed.

"How would you know… you ignorant, unknowing, uneducated… ingrates..." she hissed in a small whisper literally dripping with flaming spite.

Fortunately, the Dreemurs didn't appear to hear or notice.

"I… have to agree" Stormstarh, almost all but forgotten, suddenly chimed in "No one in the civilian market would ever accept something like your S.O.D on their shelves. I might be able to entice military contractors, but even if they accepted it, and that's a big IF, we have no idea if your S.O.D would even work on humans. Did you say you had a vat of this stuff back at the lab?" He asked.

Sierra simply nodded. She couldn't help but notice how the shark-monster seemed distracted, as if deep in thought about something, but even then, his words were a few more spade digs in her grave that had already reached the bedrock.

She was dimly aware of Don Asgore laying down his final refusal, but she had already had more than enough misery for today.

Like a dormant volcano, Sierra quietly closed her briefcase, turned on her heel, and left the room, barely making a sound and completely masking the roiling magma of fury pent up inside her.

* * *

\--

Kuro found herself in a nightmare. It had to be. She was submerged in a black mud-like liquid and no matter how much she flailed, kicked, and crawled she couldn't get up and out of it. But what mostly convinced her it was a nightmare was her sheer inability to drown and die. She had tried screaming, causing the black liquid to seep in and into her lungs. She had coughed and gasped for breath and although she didn't find it, neither did unconsciousness. For what felt like hours she found herself just on the border between life and death, constantly choking, gasping, screaming, and dying but never being allowed to fully cross over.

In a rare moment of clarity, she noticed how fatigue hadn't set in either. She wasn't a particularity athletic or strong monster, to begin with, and any adrenaline would have ebbed away long ago, and yet the thick, heaving mud that obstructed her limbs did nothing to tire her out. She could flail and roil as energetically as when she first fell in.

Suddenly, after what felt like another hour, rescue came in the form of a sudden flow in the mud, as if she had been caught in an underwater draft or stream.

She fell out into the light and unto the steel floor of the lab in a flood of mud-like, viscous spray, the gantry she had fallen from a few meters above her. The view then became obscured by the gray-haired face of a rat-like monster, clad in the blue overalls of cleaning staff.

"M-my goodness, are you alright? I'm so sorry I didn't notice you earlier. It, well, it's a miracle you could hold on for so long!" The rat squeaked. She briefly glanced over at the silo she had been in – the rat had opened a small compartment door in the side from which she had come out off, no doubt having spotted her through a thick glass pane.

Kuro tried to talk but what should have been words instead took the shape of black projectile vomit as the motion caused her lungs to expel all the strange substance she had swallowed.

She turned away from the rat monster with more energy than she thought she had. In a strange mix of surprise and pride she found she wasn't thrilled to be rescued. Happy to be let out, to be sure, but not grateful in the slightest to her rescuer.

Her retching ceased and she sensed the rat step closer above her.

"Dear me, you poor thing. I can't even imagine what that must have been like, trapped inside a tank like that" the rat said. His voice was gentle but with a soft grovel that implied old age. He leaned down, put a paw on her shoulder while offering the other one.

"Why don't I take you to the restroom so we can get you cleaned up? Then you can call your parents and I can get ahold of my boss. You know her? Alphys is her name, she a good one, one of the Don's favored. We'll sort this out, don't you worry"

Kuro took it all in strides, almost, to her mild surprise, finding the rat's consoling tone of voice somewhat irritating. Nevertheless, she reached out and took his hand.

The moment they did was the moment the rat died.

A brief look of shock and pain alongside a strained gasp as their paws connected. A moment later all that was left of the janitor was a pile of dust on the floor.

Kuro stepped back, confused. Not horror, not fear, not panic at the murder she had apparently just committed through sheer touch alone. Just a mild sense of discombobulation.

She glanced down at her hand, still offered up as if she was still holding the rat's hand. Her feathers had always been black as befitting a crow-monster, but never to this extent. Each feather like a sliver of the deepest night sky inserted into her body.

Dripping too, she noticed. Black, thick droplets of the same kind she had drowned-but-not-really in fell from her hands.

She tried wiping them on her skirt, but found her feathers and quills cutting clean through the fabric and leaving a deep gash on her leg.

Yet it barely felt like anything more than a tickle. The liquid didn't stop dripping from her hands no matter what she did, her feathers were sharper than even the feared Undyne's spear and receiving what would have been a painful, crippling leg wound actually felt… good.

This was all a bit too weird she concluded. Dazed and confused, Kuro turned on her heel and left for the exit sign, if only because she wouldn't want to be found with the dust of a dead monster and the spilled contents of whatever experimental liquid she had fallen into.

* * *

\--

Kuro stumbled out unto the streets, following the street lights almost mindlessly like a moth drawn to a flame.

Walking the streets of Ebott alone at night was usually a dangerous proposition for a small girl like her, Kuro thought, but for some reason, that description sounded wrong.

Sure, she was still small in stature, but she didn't **_feel_** small. She felt strong, powerful if still a little confused.

She tripped over a rock, stumbling to catch herself on an iron girder, flinching as she felt the metal contort and bend under the strength of her grip. Turning around to look, she also found the stone she had tripped on turned to dust by the momentum of her walking pace alone.

She raised her hands to her face, as if the answer to the mystery that had suddenly become her life was written on her palms. The black liquid that had seemingly transformed her still dripped from them.

"What is happening to me?" she whispered out loud, more in curiosity than fear.

She noticed a bed of flowers underneath a residence window. A random assortment of roses, echo flowers, and even a single, lightly snoring Vegetoid half-submerged in the dirt.

She raised her hand over it. Gently, like drizzling salt over a premium steak, she let the dark droplets drop into the flower bed, into the dirt, and unto the flowers.

The effect was immediate enough to catch the breath in her throat.

The first to change were the small flowers. Like a TV losing its saturation, the color drained from them, as if sucked out by the dirt itself, before crumbling in on themselves, the stalks become thin and dry while the petals folded and died.

The larger flowers took on a less extreme but even more fascinating change. Instead of dying out, they instead grew slightly outwards. Thin, needle-sharp spines grew from stalks that had become as coarse as sandpaper, while watery droplets spilled from the crown of the petals, hissing with acidic portent as it fell to the dirt.

Worse still was the Vegetoid. Tossing and turning in its earthy bed as if suddenly gripped in a nightmare, the small monster didn't wake up despite some drastic bodily changes. Its shell grew dark as it hardened, almost coming to resemble something like a coconut, if it wasn't for the spines dripping with venom that began protruding from beneath. In between its snores, Kuro also saw its teeth - vestigial as they were, since the plant monsters lived of nutrients from the soil, turn into fangs and incisors beastly enough to make an Ice Wolf blush.

She stepped back from the flower bed in awe at the change she had wrought. With a few drops of what she was starting to assume was her blood she had turned an innocent flower bed into a lair of spines and toxic torment.

The changes also posed fascinating possibilities. Did the size of living organisms have an effect on the kind of change her blood did? Could smaller ones simply not handle it and hence die off? And was there a difference between a few drops and actual physical touch?

She raised her hands again.

"This… **IS AMAZING!** " She howled with a cackle she had never heard before and ran from the scene of the crime.

Thoughts raced in her head as she did likewise down the streets, no real goal in mind. She had never felt so good! Fantastic even! The air had never tasted so sweet, her clothes never caressed her body so comfortably and the ground never massaged her feet so well. By all accounts, she had even killed someone but there were no regrets, no stone of sin wrapped around her heart, just pure exultation in the feeling of power.

She briefly cringed as she thought back to how her life had been beforehand. How utterly pathetic and weak she had been. Meek little Kuro, always getting pushed around by bigger monsters and bullies like Cor. Always keeping her head low, always keeping her beak clean, always doing her homework on time, always so pleased when Headmistress Toriel was proud of her.

Always doing and giving. Never taking.

'But no more' she thought to herself with a grin. Now it was her time to take.

"But what exactly?" she mused to herself as she stopped her sprint in front of the Monster City River, so named by the Don himself, the city skyline looming in the distance on the other bank.

"Could take some food, wet my beak. Am feeling a little peckish" She said out loud.

"Need some gloves, too. Something waterproof or enchanted, to hide the dripping, then maybe-"

A flash of light in the distance caught her eye. A figure, paws wreathed in magical fire and head obscured by a cloud, was battling a trio of monsters atop a warehouse on the other side of the river. The sight of the unmistakable figure woke a passion in her she realized in an instant had also been supercharged by the same chemicals that had given her her new abilities.

She watched as the Vigilante manifested two fireballs and threw one at one of the monsters, sending him flying back, while tossing the other into the air above him. Another of the goons tried to tackle him from behind, but he jumped and roundhoused the airborne fireball, kicking it straight into the attacking monster and sending him flying back as well. The final goon seized what he took was a moment of vulnerability and punched out at the Vigilante, still in the air, only to have him contort his upper body out of the way, while wrapping one leg around his neck and the other around his waist. With a pull, he was sent to the floor, arm caught in a joint-lock he couldn't escape.

"So cool..." Kuro drooled.

In an instant, she knew.

This is what she wanted. The tall, dark, brooding, mysterious, and no doubt handsome Vigilante. So far, she had had to make do with posters and fanfics of Ebott's mysterious avenger, but now, with her new powers, the sky was the limit. The amount of self-inserts she had written in which her hero would swoop down, take her into strong but caring arms and whisk her away to a life of adventure and steamy romance already filled a shamefully large part of her desk-drawers at home. But now she didn't need those! Now, she could have the real thing!

'But how to go about it?' she mused. The identity of the Vigilante was an unknown and the greatest source of debate among most of her most visited undernet forums. A problem that couldn't be solved through brute force alone.

…

'… or, maybe it could' she grinned as a plan started to form in her mind.

Maybe she couldn't come to him, which meant she just had to make the Vigilanteer come to her.

And if there was one thing that attracted Heroes like nothing else…

… It was a vile Villain.

Kuro turned on her heel and marched back towards the city, check- and shopping lists worth of things to be done and items to be acquired filling her mind.

The next few days were going to be busy, but soon enough, she knew, she would spread her wings...

... and all of Ebott would be covered in their shadows.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ebott has another humbled scientist, another babbozzled bully and another villain, the likes it has never seen.
> 
> With this the introductory chapters are just about done, but we're only getting started.
> 
> Thank you and have a blessed weekend all!


	5. Kindling of a Soul

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another friday, another chapter. How about we start really getting the ball rolling on this story?

To the citizens of Ebott being summoned to Don Asgore's manor always meant life was about to be turned upside down for you, for better or worse. Even the lower gutter-class, in which Cor counted himself, knew The Don was a busy monster, and if he took time out of his day to come and visit personally, outside the safety of his manor, chances were the tidings were good, and one would be showered in riches and favor.

On the other hand, if the Don's attention came in the form of Undyne, The Spear of Injustice, his chief enforcer, kicking your door in and backhanding your dad to the floor when he drunkenly rose from the couch to make a stink, then running her spear through the hem of your shirt before hoisting you over her shoulder and telling you that 'The Boss wants a word' more than likely, you were in for a bad time.

At least, that what was Cor figured, having experienced just that, on top of now finding himself seated at an old wooden table in a cold concrete room below the Dreemurr Manor.

Everyone knew neither the Don nor his wife ever resorted to torture or death as a punishment, but even so, there are worse fates.

The only shred of hope Cor could hold onto was that the queenpin sat across from him, with the Don instead leaning against the wall near the door, arms crossed and green eyes boring into him as if peeling away his skin and fur to judge the soul beneath. The frown he was wearing easily clued him in that he didn't like what he was seeing.

He could easily imagine why he was here. Their catastrophic break-in at the Don's lab the night prior. The rulers of the Dreemurr Mob didn't care about theft, petty or grand, in fact, they encouraged it, even if they were the targets, but when dust starts pilling up they take notice. He only hoped his reddish eyes and slouched posture didn't give away he hadn't slept all night thinking about what he had done.

"Good morning Cor, I hope Undyne's care wasn't too strenuous? The Impaler does good work but as you might gather from her nom de guerre, she is not always the best suited for the more genteel of tasks" Toriel began with a disarmingly good-natured chuckle.

"It's nothing, headmistress" Cor shrugged.

"Oh please, just call me Toriel, we are not at school" she said, folding her paws in front of her and pinning him to his chair with a suddenly more serious look.

"Now, Cor, do you know why we had the Impaler bring you here?" she put to him

He recalled another of his dad's surly nuggets of wisdom, often interjected in between drunken rants or beatings ' _Better to live a lie than die an honest death'_

"Dunno. Don't know nothin'" he shrugged

Toriel smiled knowingly, before reaching into a drawer and plopping a folder onto the table.

"In that case, let us talk about something you, hopefully, do know something about" she said with a small laugh "As you know, the educational facilities here in Ebott are somewhat unique. Our city being what it is, any kind of academic accomplishment or diploma from here would not count for anything in the wider world. So why should a student even try to put in any effort?" she asked.

Cor shrugged again, hoping his feigned mask of indifference wasn't too obvious "We get a forged diploma, the better our grade on the finals the better the forgery" he said.

"Exactly that, a student that does well would not get a diploma from Ebott, but rather one from any other top-academy in the world of their choice. That way, those that work hard and try to excel will get a good chance as starting a more lawful life outside of Ebott if they wish it…" Toriel trailed off, dipping her head in a more accusing glare towards him "… while those that do not usually never stray far from Ebott at all"

She opened the folder, revealing it to be his school papers.

"Now, since you do know all of this, where do you figure you will end up?" she put to him.

He gulped, yearning to feel indifferent about his grades and his chance outside of Ebott, but finding he couldn't entirely shed a sense of shame.

"You show great promise in the field of chemistry. I do believe I have even heard your classmates gossip about your ability to turn almost anything into an alcoholic beverage, but aside from chemistry-"

"I never wanted to go outside of Ebott anyway" he shrugged again, cutting Toriel off before she could state the obvious.

"My dad always says traveling is just a nice word for 'running away'" he added.

"Your dad means a lot to you, does he not? You mention him quite often"

He nodded, but a cold realization suddenly seized him; this was the first time he had mentioned his dad in this room, why would she say something like that?

"Tell me a bit about him, your father, I mean"

"He's… alright, I guess" Cor mumbled after a while, nervously fidgeting his paws.

Toriel raised an amused eyebrow at the lad "Really? That is all? I would have thought you would have more to say about such an important figure in your life, for example, which gang he works for?"

Cor's confused eyes darted back and forth between Toriel and the imposing Asgore standing at the door for a few seconds "Well, he… works for you?"

"Good golly, cut the crap, you know what she means" Asgore suddenly growled, a baritone rumbles that could be felt in the floor. The Don of the Dreemurr Mob advanced on Cor, covering him in his shadow.

"I got a few hundred gangs working under me, even the odd cult or two, but the list of people I have that report directly to me is one I like to keep short and reserved for those close to me and I'll be a Jerry's uncle if your deadbeat dad ever made it anywhere near that level, so why don't you be a nice boy and answer the question, hmm?"

The threat lingered in the room for a few moments before Toriel gently raised her paw, as if signaling the Don to take a step back. Cor was glad for the reprieve but was even more impressed with himself at how he had managed to hold the Don's stare without flinching… even if the same could not be said for his bladder.

"What my bellicose husband means to imply is that we would like a better understanding of your father's position in Ebott. He is not known to either of us, so maybe you could tell us where he is employed?" Toriel calmly put to him.

Cor's eyes fell to the floor, mouth twitching as he tried to form some kind of half-lie to present.

"He's… an independent contractor" cor muttered, his meek words immediately drowned out by a roaring laugh.

"Independent contractor? In other words, he's unaffiliated? Not flying any colors as no one wants him? Pfft, pitiful, but about what I expected" Asgore snorted in derision.

"Tch, whatever" Cor bristled "s' not like it matters what you think. The bosses play their games, and the grunts play theirs"

"Wise words" Asgore chuckled "Normally, I wouldn't give a snowcone's hat what some unaffiliated bottom-trash is up to in my city, but when somebody decides to murder someone in a place that specifically falls under my protection, well, I can't help but take notice"

A shiver went over Cor and the brief burst of anger in his eyes quickly fizzled out, but still not a word of admission escaped him.

"I think, by now, you realize why we had you brought in, Cor" Toriel chimed in after a few moments of silence "Thuggish behavior we can accept, even expect, but your actions have gone beyond even that. There is dust on your paws"

"What? N-no, I didn't-" Cor tried, but the sharp ***** Click* of Toriel flicking her claws and a TV screen emerging from a panel in the walls quickly silenced him.

The screen flickered to life, showing surveillance footage of the inspection gantry in Alphys's lab.

"I know what you're thinking" the bemused voice of Asgore cut in "'There can't be any footage! All the cameras were down for maintenance!' that is true… just not for the interior ones _inside_ the building"

"…Shit..." Cor hissed, feeling the last embers of resistance flicker out in his soul as he watched the figure of the Loox that had accompanied them crash through a door and into view on the TV screen, closely followed by him stepping on the Loox to get in"

"Here is how I see it, young Cor" Toriel suddenly cut in "You are barely present in the Mob's hierarchy, you have little hope for a legal life outside of Ebott, you have all the makings of just another back-alley goon with no future prospects… and your callousness has led to an unneeded death"

"Not to mention you're a real piece of work to boot. Like hitting girls, do you? Think it's fun picking on those weaker than you?" Asgore leveled at him, just as the TV showed the scene of him backhanding Kuro to the floor.

Even at his most drunken, violent and vitriolic of moods, Cor's father had never been able to make him feel as defeated as he did beneath the Dreemurr's gaze. There was no point in arguing, no way for him to save face now. All that was left was focusing on a way of leaving the room without the rest of his life being ruined.

A part of him bade him to apologize, to leap from the chair and throw himself at the Dreemurr's feet to beg their forgiveness, but what little remained of his sad, ruined pride forbid it.

Instead, all he could do was sit and grin it. Paws clenched until his fingers hurt, breaths coming in deep, long hisses and eyes unfocused as all he could think of was willing the moment away. Wishing to be anywhere else in the world than this room and just wanting it to be over and done it.

Amazingly, it seemed to partly work as he suddenly felt Asgore's shadow disappear from over him as the Great Don retreated back to lean on the wall, and Toriel's voice cut the silence, neutral but welcoming.

"Do you have anything to say for yourself, Cor?"

He slowly rose his head, coming eye-to-eye with the queenpin, finding her face to be a lot less malefic than he had imagined.

"… I didn't mean to…" he managed, practically a whisper, before turning to look at the TV. He heard Toriel snapped her claws again and the screen froze on the scene that had put him in this room; Kuro hanging off the guardrail and him leaping to catch her.

"I know" Toriel said calmly "Despite everything you have said and done, you did try to save her in the end"

"And it's the only reason we had The Spear bring you here instead of the city border. You see, my wife seems to think there is actually hope for you. Seems more like a waste of time and effort to me" Asgore huffed and shook his head.

"There is nothing I detest more than seeing the potential and aspirations of the young squandered. Your actions have seen a life cut short long before its time… but it would be foolish of me to punish a crime with another" Toriel explained.

"… What?" Cor said with the same tone of surprise one might get from seeing a tem grow a second head.

"So, instead of handing down a sentence, I would instead like to hand out an opportunity" Toriel continued, sliding a piece of paper along with a nametag across the table over to Cor.

His confusion only grew as he noticed it was his name on the tag, as well as 'The Queenpin's Monthly Giveaway' Stamped in bold letters as title on the paper.

"Normally, I'd claim everything you and your entire family have to their name as compensation, not just for the life lost but also the lab resources you've ruined. But, given that you're as poor as moldsmal I'd be better off searching the couch at home for spare change. But there might be another way you can pay us back" Asgore growled.

"But the choice is yours" Toriel continued, her velvet voice like a soft cushion against Asgore's gravel "It would be an exercise in futility to demand compensation, and exile would only compound the tragedy… And I have a feeling that you agree that this _is_ a tragedy, one that you wish could have been avoided, and not just for your own sake"

"… you want me… to volunteer for the giveaway" Cor said lowly.

"We would very much, yes, but it is your choice. It is volunteer work after all" Toriel smiled "But, if you accept and do a good job of it, who knows? Maybe it could be a new start for you, where something like what happened last night will never happen again?"

Cor's breathing turned funny as he continued to stare at the nametag and paper in front of him, suddenly realizing what such innocuous objects could actually be worth to him.

"And I'm guessing… you'll want me to… hand out the insulin" Cor muttered, voice low and slurred as if speaking in a dream.

"Huh, guess you're not as dumb as you look" Asgore grunted.

"I imagine it will not be easy for you with the constant reminders of last night's tragedy, but if you can… well, maybe we will see more of each other, under more comfortable circumstances, of course" Toriel cooed, reaching over and placing a paw on his and giving a smile that wouldn't be out of place on a Renaissance masterpiece painting.

Despite how uncool it sounded Cor found himself unable to completely discount the idea of working in the giveaway. Maybe it was the Queenpin's soft paws, her disarming smile, or hint towards better things to come if he took the offer but Cor suddenly found the curves of his mouth edging upwards in a small smile as well.

Maybe… this _could_ be a new start.

The screech of metal quickly ripped him back, finding the Don pulling a heavyset metal door open before standing aside, crossing his arms and nodding towards the opening.

"Wh-what?" Cor dumbly queried.

"We're done here. You're free to go" The Don rumbled.

Cor's eyes flashed between Toriel and Asgore in quiet disbelief that the interrogation was over, but didn't wait for a reaction from either. He leapt from the chair a bit more eagerly than he wanted, pocketed the nametag and paper, and quickly marched for the door.

"The Giveaway is on this Saturday" Toriel's voice cut in, stopping him dead in his tracks "Will we be seeing you there, young Cor?" she put to him.

A semblance of his composure had returned and with it, the feigned mask of indifference "I'll think about it" he shrugged with a non-confirming grunt, but even still the all-knowing smirk on the Queenpin's face easily clued him in that she knew what he intended, no doubt reading him as easily as an open picture book.

She was kind of annoying in that way, he realized.

But he still looked forward to seeing her again at the giveaway.

With a quick nod, he stepped through the door and outside to freedom, where even the air seemed to taste sweetly of things to come.

"I must say, despite everything that has happened, I quite like the young man" Toriel mused back in the interrogation room.

Asgore huffed a quiet laugh in response "Well, I guess for a punk that likes to pick on others, hit on girls and booze up in his free time, he's not as spineless as I would have thought" he said, his grin falling into one of slight concern "But… are you sure it's a good idea to not tell him the whole story? After all, Kuro isn't really dead" he snapped his claws and the screen whirred back into life, showing the scene of Kuro emerging from the S.O.D tank like some kind of dark rebirth, as well as the chilling scene of her killing a janitor with a mere touch before walking off without a concern in the world.

"She might as well be" Toriel said with a heavy sigh "I am afraid she is no longer the shy and reserved but kind and caring girl she used to be. It is better for Cor this way, if he had known the truth of what happened to Kuro he would have either seen it as a lucky break and gone back to his old ways, or it would have hurt him even more, perhaps beyond healing"

Asgore nodded in quiet acceptance and snapped his claws again, shutting the TV off "I got a few of the men out looking for her. With any luck we might bring her in later today, maybe we can get Alphys or Sierra to work on some kind of cure or rehabilitation technique"

"We should be so lucky" Toriel sighed, unconvinced.

She felt her husband's large paw on her shoulder, slightly tugging as if urging her to stand up into an embrace.

"Hey, if all else fails I can make her a tea that could calm her down, flush all the S.O.D and LOVE right out of her system. Chamomile with a dash of Vegetoid leaf is great for the humors" he grinned.

"… I wish you wouldn't take this so lightly" The Queenpin huffed, standing up and marching straight for the door.

"Come on, Tori. I know this is a sad situation and all, but don't you think we're making a chicken out of a feather here?" Asgore called after her.

"I mean, how dangerous can one kid hopped up on this new drug really be?"

* * *

Asriel turned his whole body into the blow, hips turning counter-clockwise and shoulder pistoning back to give punch maximum velocity, and with the fire magic coating his paw it struck the punching bag like a small meteor, leaving a scorch mark and sending out a shockwave. He used the rebound momentum from the bag to backpedal and duck low in case of a wild counter-attack and sure enough, one of the wooden poles attached to the bag swung around, clean over his head.

This was it, with his opponent rocked under his attack and throwing wild punches in a panic it was time to go in for the takedown.

Still low to the ground, Asriel reached one with one paw aimed at where the bag's proverbial feet would be and let out a gout of flame, the sudden heat and pain sure to force anyone to lose their footing and step back. He followed up with the coup de grace, curling his arm inwards towards his chest and smashing his elbow at the bag's chin in an uppercut brutal enough to send a Knight-Knight to sleep, wake it up and send it right back to sleep again.

With the villainous punching bag defeated Asriel stepped back, feeling the tiredness and sweat of the last few hours of training wear down on him, the acidic sensation in his limbs, his heart racing in his chest, the breath burning in his lungs, the weariness in his soul from the expenditure of magic, and the dull ache in his paws, caked in dried blood and dust from the last few hours of use on the bag.

Frisk had recommended using a spiritually possessed dummy as punching bag several times before – citing the improvement of having a bag that would actively try and fight back and dodge, to say nothing of the magical nature of the dummy being much easier on his paws.

But that would jeopardize the cover circumstances had made for him. As fate would have it, a startup newspaper in Ebott had visited the Dreemurr Manor a few months after his rescue and while everyone in his family had made a good accounting of themselves, he had been sleeping off the previous night's sortie as the Vigilante at the time, with his parents fedding the newshounds a story about how he had been like that ever since he got home; sleeping most of the day and either writing or being on the computer when he was awake.

Thus, Asriel Dreemurr, son of Toriel and Asgore Dreemurr, almighty bosses of Ebott's underworld, was publically regarded as a layabout and couch potato, if tragic and traumatized one.

It suited him fine, though. He didn't want nor deserve any gratitude for his actions as the Vigilante. Knowing what he had done, having the people of Ebott praise would probably have made him sick to his stomach.

No, better that he was regarded as a footnote in his family. Having a sentient Dummy as punching bag witness this side of him – the damaged and dangerous one – could ruin all it, giving the Dummies reputation for foul temper and loose tongues.

A brief flash of light, gone in the blink of an eye, suddenly filled the room.

" **Pic Captured!** " Chara's excited voice sharply followed.

Asriel turned to find the worrying sight of Chara, wide grin on his face, gingerly kicking his legs and with two ghostly fingers disappearing into his cellphone, electronically possessing it.

"Is that mine?" Asriel put to him.

"Well, duh, my phone plan ended about the same time my life did" Chara snickered.

"I'm not sure I like you digging around on my phone. What are you-"

"Oh, don't you worry, you're gonna like this. In fact, you might end up **Loving** it" Chara cut in, his grin widening.

"Huh?"

"Aaaand done! Here, check it out, nerd!" The ghost child exclaimed flipping the phone to show the display to Asriel. A cold fear ran down his back and settled in his legs as a leaden weight as he read cheerful and colorful screen "ACCCOUNT REGISTERED! WELCOME TO MONSTR!"

Asriel's jaw slowly slackened as the implication of what Chara just had put on him dawned.

"M-Monstr… that… that Dating App!?" He wheezed.

"Yup! I already set up your account so you can get right to browsing through all the hot chicks of Ebott, you poonhound you"

"You-I-Wha-Why-I-How-When- WHY!?" Asriel gasped and fell to his knees as the taunting words on the cellphone display taunted him with exposure and a brave new world completely foreign to him.

"It's simple, really, I wanna help you" Chara confidently asserted, sitting straight and proudly crossing his arms.

"Wha- How will this help me!?" Asriel whined, pointing to his phone as if it was a particularly gory roadkill.

"Well… you've been going to Alphys for about half a year now" Chara began "But even with her's and mom's help it seems like the message isn't going through that thick goat skull of yours. You're still beating yourself up and putting yourself in danger most nights trying to, I dunno, make up for _all the killings you didn't commit_ by saving people in danger, if I got it right"

"C-Chara… you…" Asriel stammered, reaching up to pull at his horns in panic.

"And while it's pretty friggin' badass you got your own costume and cape and all, we're all worried for you, Azzy, and we all want to help you get better. I thought my sharp wit, dashing charms and good looks would be enough to pull any dopey mope out a hole no matter how deep, but obviously, that's not the case. So, consider this me throwing in my hat into the 'Asriel Disaster Relief Effort'" Chara finished, waiving at hand at the phone.

Asriel, with a face that screamed but with a mouth that could only whisper, regarded the phone with terror. He reluctantly reached a paw out to take it but found he could no more grab it than he could grasp time itself.

"But… how will this help?" He asked out loud.

"Easy, you can't run around at night if you got some fine piece of fur running you ragged during the day!" Chara eagerly beamed.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"It's all mathematical, Azzy. There's no problem in this world so big it can't be buried in an ample enough bosom!"

"… My mistake, maybe I didn't make myself clear the first time. What I meant to say was; I'M SORRY, WHAT!?" Asriel half-screamed, half-whined.

"Oh, don't be such a drama queen, Azzy, plenty of guys around your age uses Monstr. Imagine it; wouldn't it be nice to have someone who hasn't known you since you were wearing diapers you could offload all your thoughts and fears off on?"

"That… sounds more like therapist than a girlfriend"

"Well, if you had bothered to read the book mom made and Alphys gave you, you'd have known love is the best therapy" Chara grinned, returning his attention to the cellphone.

"Now, we still need to tweak the Matchmaker system. I already got all your personal info in here, but we still need to set your preferences" Chara explained.

"My… preferences?" Asriel fearfully choked the word as if it was the name of a particularly violent execution method meant for him.

"Yeah, like, what kinda girl you're looking for. I'd imagine other caprine monsters like yourself… unless you wanna get freaky?" A devilish grin formed on the ghostly Chara's face.

"Honestly, I think you could have whoever you wanted. With that pic I just of you, standing there, all cool and sexy, sweat dripping off those cannonball shoulders and between those washboard abs, we'll have all the chicks drooling over you like me over a chocolate fondue!"

His only reply was a gulp and a wild look from Asriel, instinctively reaching for a towel to wrap around himself in embarrassment.

"Not to mention you're the kingpin's and queenpin's, uhh, 'princepin'. Once they see you're loaded and got status the golddiggers's gonna come at'cha, picks a'swingin'!"

"Wh-why would I want that? What's that got to with love!?" Asriel bleated.

"Fine, fine, no golddiggers, let's see what else we got then" Chara chuckled with an almost sadistic glee at Asriel's torment on his face.

"What about a Tem? Huh, that sounds kinda fun. Bet it's pretty high on the 'Crazy Scale' though"

"Chara, I really don't think that-"

"Or a flamin' hot fire elemental! Hmm, no, guess the bedroom play would get too painful"

"Could you please listen to-"

"Wait, is that Frisk!? Why does she have a profile on here!?... ah, I guess that actually makes sense…"

"… Fine, a human!" Asriel suddenly burst, jumping on the spot as if breaking out of a shell of shame.

The grin on Chara immediately vanished in favor of a scowl as he turned his head towards the frantic goat monster.

"Did you just seriously say a human?" he grunted, almost more a warning than a question.

"Well, yeah, I-"

"You got the whole selection of all the different creatures of monsterkind at your disposal… and you chose hairless apes just smart enough to comprehend concepts like evil and apathy and just callous enough to embody them?" questioned with a hint of disgust cold enough Asriel could actually feel the temperature of the room fall and his fur stand on end.

"I see your misanthropy is still alive and well" he huffed back, noticing a kind of tonal shift between the two of them.

"Asriel, as your brother, I implore- no, I beg you to do better than Humans. Someone like you getting together with a human is raunchy and degenerate beyond my darkest fantasies and I've known people with an armpit fetish!"

"Uhh"  
"Seriously, why humans? Why are you drinking from the toilet bowl when I'm offering you pippin' hot portion of snail soup with cinnamon sprinkling?" The ghostly Chara demanded, more akin to a revenant than a benevolent spirit now.

Asriel found a sense of relief as he realized the answer was literally in front of him and that it could be conveyed in a way that might put Chara at ease.

"Because I haven't known a lot of humans in my time, but almost all of those I have met have been nothing less than an inspiration to me"

"Humans? An inspiration?" Chara wheezed with such disbelief he might as well have claimed chocolate was now verboten.

"Absolutely" Asriel added, shifting his gaze towards the window, feeling the sight of the summer weather in Ebott reflecting the golden brilliance of the two humans closest to him.

"Just take Frisk, for example, she could have anything she'd ever want, legal or otherwise. She could take it easy and live a comfortable life until her last days if she wanted to, yet she's up bright and bushy-tailed every morning, out there protecting Ebott any way she can, volunteering for any charity she catches wind off, never misses an opportunity to do right by others and still manages to get home for dinner every day and never fails to get mom and dad roaring and beaming with laughter when she tells how her day has been"

"Yeah yeah, Frisk is the bee's knees, everyone knows that. So what?" Chara shrugged.

Asriel allowed a small smile as he turned his attention on Chara himself, an uncommon gesture, judging from the ghost's brief look of surprise.

"And then there's you… I wouldn't even be here if it weren't for you. And as much as I often wish you hadn't done what you did to save me, how could I not have anything less but the deepest admiration for someone who would do something like that?"

"Look, I know I like to blow a lot of hot air up your butt about how cool I am, but at the end of the day I'm just another human meatbag" Chara shrugged "You ask me, if a human has the opportunity to give his life to save a monster, he's morally obligated to do so"

Asriel frowned at Chara's casual dismissal of his own life "So is that why you saved me? Because you felt you had a moral obligation?"

Chara looked briefly taken aback at the callous implication he had made. He made to protest but a sudden thoughtful look came over him as he realized the truth of it.

"I guess, in a way I did, but… not in THAT sense of the word" he mulled.

Asriel grinned, feeling a sense of satisfaction at seeing the usually so cool and mischievous Chara put on the spot.

"How was it you described humans? 'hairless apes just smart enough to comprehend concepts like evil and apathy and just callous enough to embody them'?" Asriel recounted, shaking his head in dismissal.

"Does that really sound like someone who would see it as a 'moral obligation' to give their life for those they care about?"

"I… guess not, but-"

"You've always been my protector, Chara" Asriel cut in, voice barely above a whisper. Chara could only look back in confusion at if he had heard correctly.

"More than that, you're a guardian angel, Chara. My knight in shining armor that keeps my demons at bay and who won't even let dying keep him down. You didn't just save my life the once back with the Flowey Gang – more than once the thought of letting someone like you down is all that has kept me from ending it all. I know I'm still at a precipice, that any day the darkness could swallow me but having you as my bulwark against evil and my rock in the storm does more for me than any self-help book or psychiatrist visit ever could. And if humanity can produce someone like that... then that makes humans my dating top pick!"

Chara could only stare wide-eyed as Asriel finished his speech, iris darting back and forth as if simultaneously deep in thought and looking Asriel over for any sign of jest.

Then he leaned back, a wide smile appearing on his lips and he threw his head back in a laugh.

"Oh, wow, you really had me going there for a minute. Damn near brought a tear to my eye, but then you had to go and ruin it with the dating!"

"Well, you asked" Asriel replied, smugly folding his arms.

"And I'm glad I did. Feels like ages since I've seen a trace of that little poet with his shining words hiding inside you… it's good to see you again, Azzy" he added without a hint of sarcasm.

"No sense in digging up dead people" Asriel answered in a quiet tone.

"You're not dead, Azzy… other than drop-dead gorgeous!" Chara burst, bring up the cellphone once again.

"I've almost forgotten you used to write – I'm gonna add that under 'interests' on your profile" He eagerly whopped, ghostly fingers digging into the electronics to possess the phone.

"That still only makes 'Working out', 'Cinnamon', 'Snails', 'Writing' and 'butt-stuff', though. Would be nice if we could add a fifth interest, and no, being as edgy as a Snowcone's hat doesn't count" Chara mused.

" **I'm not into butt-stuff!"**

"Fine, but that just means we have to find even more interests of yours!"

"Well, golly, I'm sorry I don't have time for a hobby outside of trying to keep myself sane and alive" Asriel growled back.

The ghostly child leaned back on the back, hand scratching his chin deep in thought.

All the while, Asriel had finally recovered enough from the shock of being thrust into the online dating scene to start changing into his regular clothes.

It was when he finished dragging a towel across his face to wipe the sweat off that Chara jumped into action once again.

"Makeup!" he shouted as he launched into the air.

Asriel staggered back, taken by surprise at Chara's sudden explosion.

"Golly!" he gasped.

"You do makeup! That's gotta be a real hit with the ladies, I bet they'd love doing a manicure on your claws or something!" He eagerly explained.

"What are you talking about? I don't do makeup" Asriel retorted in confusion.

"What, really?"  
"Yes, really! Why would you think I did?"

Chara pointed a ghostly digit at his face.

"Well, what are those black lines going from your eyes and around your head, then? Looks like a mascara gone wild to me!"

A cold silence suddenly filled the room. Chara's accusation hung like a blunt sledgehammer in the air, and Chara himself turned from his confident demeanor into awkward gawk, as if just realizing he had said something bad but not knowing what.

Asriel raised a paw to his face, slowly tracing a claw along the black lines running from his eyes across his face. Without a mirror, it was easy for him to forget the one physical reminder his time in Flowey Gang had left on him. A scar on the soul so deep it's proverbial blood seeped out of its window and stained his face.

The silence lasted what felt like minutes until Chara's now much quieter voice broke it.

"It's… not mascara, then?" He asked, more a realization than a question.

Asriel shook his head.

"No, they're called Trauma Lines. It's… a wound on the soul that appears on the body"

"Trauma Lines?" Chara cocked his head to the side "Jeez, I've heard of 'Red Flags' in the dating game, but Black Trauma Lines is a new one"

"You really think anyone would go out with me once they see these on me?" Asriel coldly put to him, a claw resting on the black marks on his face.

Chara squirmed at the awkwardness of it all.

"Well, you might find, y'know, the caring type who could see it as a challenge, I guess. Someone who-"

"I'm not interested in becoming a puzzle game for someone else to put together" Asriel huffed, turning his side to Chara.

"This is my cross to carry. My life is already burning wreck and I won't drag anyone else into it"

With finality, Ariel stomped over to his wardrobe, throwing the door open and pulling out the first shirt his paw caught. The last few minutes of exchange with Chara had been a carousel ride of emotions that had unfortunately ended with him feeling sick to his stomach. After half a year, how could Chara not know the lines on his face were Trauma Lines?

The answer was as obvious as it was aggravating, he knew. Trauma Lines weren't exactly a common condition among monsters, and didn't appear at all to humans. There was no way Chara could have known as no one had told him. As much as Chara's remark made him feel sick to his stomach, he knew it was ultimately his own fault.

"I'm sorry" the voice of Chara whispered, sounding right behind him.

Asriel made to turn around but noticed a small glow below him. Two ghostly arms reaching around him in a hug.

He couldn't physically feel it, but what he could feel was his racing heart quieting and the sea of sick in his gut calming down as a benevolent soul reached into his own.

"I didn't know that cool thing on your face was really not all that cool at all"

A part of Asriel still wanted to snap and rage at his brother, but even he could see it would be both unwarranted and unfair.

"… It's fine" he said lowly, feeling the sensation of the incorporeal hug tightening.

"Doesn't mean I'm gonna give up on you, though. Maybe you're not ready for online dating, but I'm sure I can find something else that can help you" Chara cooed.

An involuntary chuckle escaped Asriel "Way to ruin moment… still, thanks. I really meant it when I said you're my guardian angel"

"Then I'll do my best to be worthy of the title"

* * *

An unusually cold wind buffeted Ebott's summer night sky. Down in the streets of the gutter quarters, the tall buildings and wide warehouses did well to protect the sparse nightlife from the freezing winds, yet Kuro still felt its effect as icy raindrops, chilled by the wind and their long fall from the sky, yet even all these elements of nature coming together to create a cold conglomerate could do nothing against the burning fire of bitterness raging in Kuro's heart.

A week had passed since her dark rebirth and she had zilch to show for it. For all her grand plans of assembling a gang of like-minded and like-hearted followers, getting even a single lost soul to follow her dark promise was still beyond her.

The last few days had been spent demonstrating her power and potential in the most shocking and overt way she could think off. She would seek out the seediest dens, bars and dives in the city, sniff out the most dangerous gangers and monsters, and then kill them and those nearest with a mere touch. She would then loudly proclaim her deed to all around and offer them the chance to share in her new powers.

Yet the finely-honed survival instincts of Ebotts's gutter-class so often confounded her. Too often, the monsters she had marked for death would sense her presence and intent before she even got close, often managing to flee or sick their posse on her, and while her newfound powers made her nearly impervious to harm, the distraction would often serve to allow her target to escape.

Even when she did manage to kill the most dangerous monster in the room, jump on a table and loudly offer anyone the power to do what she did if they would only submit to her, the only responses she got was either apathy, them running for their lives or most annoying of all, vengeful gangers copying her plan by trying to take out the strongest monster in the room, a position she now filled.

The fruitlessness of a wasted week's efforts kept shoveling tainted coal into the dark furnace in her soul. It just didn't make any sense. Everywhere in the world, but in Ebott especially, people respected power. By openly flaunting it she should have entire gangs and subsidiaries under the Dreemurr Mob eating out of her hand, yet all she managed was a new rumor going around of a crazy, cackling bird monster able to kill with a touch that haunted the streets at night.

It was her parent's fault, she had surmised. All her life they had pushed her towards a life and career in the legal world and taught her nothing of the life and culture of the city she grew up in. Now that she suddenly stood at the apex off all criminals she was completely unprepared for the task, and even though she vented her vengeance on the two pathetic fools that would dare call themselves her parents in the most gruesome way possible, it still irked her that she had been effectively handed the key to a life at the absolute top of Ebott but she didn't know how to fit it into the lock.

And just as the proverbial cherry on top, all her powers and potential still hadn't exempted her from Ebott's invisible army of pickpockets. Or rather, the opposite of a pickpocket.

She once again fished up the note she had found in her pocket a few hours earlier. A simple instruction;

" _Alley between Pyrope Pizza and Clownshoe Gang HQ – 1 A.M – I have a gift for you_ "

She didn't know what she found most frustrating – that someone was giving her instructions or that someone had successfully pickpocketed her. Whatever the case, as she turned into the alley mentioned in the note, nestled between a run-down pizzeria and a dilapidated brick building from which strange honking sounds emanated, she fully planned to make this 'gift giver' pay for the slight, intended or otherwise.

She strode down the dank alleyway, noticing but glossing over the subtle signs of Ebott city-life that seemed to persist in every alley; the glitter of spilled monster dust, scorch marks or freezer burns from magical attacks, broken bottles and general detritus that spoke of the city's active but dangerous soul.

Not that there was another soul in sight, Kuro surmised after a few steps. She seemed to be all alone – no one hiding in the shadows or peering down from rooftops.

A sudden thought turned Kuro's already bubbling rage to the point of bursting. What if the note had been a prank? The comedy of making someone waste their time following simple instructions like a tool?

That mere implication made Kuro grit her teeth in furious indignation. Even the S.O.D dripping from her talons fizzled as they hit the rain-slicked ground, boiled by the anger within her.

A sudden crash of something heavy hitting the ground made her snap to her senses, hands flying to her head as she momentarily thought the noise had ben her literally blowing her lid, anger boiling over like a tea kettle.

But as she turned around, she found the true culprit.

A large individual was standing at the mouth of the alley. It wore a pair of large work boots, one foot placed on a large metal locker. The rest of it was covered in a large black longcoat underneath a scarf and trilby hat that completely obscured its features.

Kuro grinned. Finally, another living soul to vent her anger on!

"If you think you got me trapped just because you're covering the exit you got another thing coming, friend" She eerily hissed, talons stretching out from between her quills, ready to tear.

"I'm not here to fight you" a deep voice spoke from the cloaked individual. "As I said in the note, I got a present for you" he said before giving the locker a swift kick, sliding it over to Kuro.

She regarded the locker as if it was an agitated Final Froggit charging at her, stepping aside and letting it come to a stop on its own. The tainted blood and dust in her veins bade her ignore it and instead turn her attention and talons to the stranger, to rend and tear until there was nothing but a smear left on the sidewalk.

"Been keeping an eye on you these last few days, seems to me you're having trouble really getting the ball rolling. This oughta help" The stranger crisply explained.

Kuro's eyes darted back and forth between the stranger and the chest, unsure of whether to indulge her curiosity or bloodlust first, but eventually settling on the former.

Half expecting a rabid Tem to jump out at her, she reached a foot out to kick the locker open. No Tem, but the sheer dullness of the locker's contents was almost as surprising. As far as she could tell, it seemed to be chock full of papers, letters and pamphlets.

She glanced sideways at the stranger with an evil eye, getting a nod in return.

"Take a look. You'll like it" he instructed.

Grimacing in disappointment, she reached down to pick up what looked like an academic thesis titled as "Vital Motive Force Transplantation For Efficient Diagnostical Efforts"

The title alone almost her yawn.

But as she flicked to the next page, coming upon a diagram of what the thesis explained how to do, Kuro immediately realized coming all the way to this dank alley was well worth the effort.

"What the heck…" she gasped to herself, looking past the thesis into the locker, mind racing as she realized that together the contents were explosive enough to level a city 10 times the size of Ebott.

She dug down into the locker, quickly realizing it was outfitted with dimensional storage magic and contained much more than it outwardly appeared capable off.

Maybe even a city 20, or 30 times the size of Ebott...

Many of the things she found were more mundane but still incredibly useful. Weapons, both of the human and monster world. Lease contracts on strategic properties all over Ebott, even a voucher for 1000 free printings at a leaflet printing company.

She had been handed everything she needed to create a gang that could rival even the Dreemurr Mob in size and potential, seemingly on a platter.

Kuro had early on realized the S.O.D in her veins had melted away a lot of caution and scruples, but even she realized this was simply too good to be true.

"So, what's your deal in all this, hat man?" She growled at the stranger.

"I have no use for the things in there, but I do have a need for a lot of chaos in the near future. I see it as an investment" He answered coolly.

"My ass, even the Don himself would come a-running if he knew what kinda naughty stuff you had tucked under your bed" Kuro grinned as she suddenly realized the opportunity she had to test out some of the more esoteric toys in the locker interrogating the answers out of the stranger.

"And, you know, speaking of naughty stuff in the bedroom, what's stopping me from taking some of the stuff here and-"

The sound of rapidly approaching footfalls and a large shadow falling over her instantly snapped Kuro to alert. Her talons unsheathed and her quills stood on end, ready to kill in the blink of an eye.

But it was still far too late.

A boot smashed into her ribs, sending the smaller bird monster careening through the air and crashing into a brick wall. Her high LV kept most of the damage superficial, but it was still hard enough to make her see stars.

The stranger didn't give her a chance to blink them away. In an instant he was in front of her again, smashing a large fist into her gut.

She instinctively reached a hand out to claw at him, but could only clumsily flail in between gasping for the breath that had been forced out of her.

The stranger saw it coming, easily grabbing hold of her offending arm and with a quick turn and pivot of the hips effortlessly threw her over his shoulder, crushing her into the ground hard enough she became slightly indented into it. The boot that then crashed down into her chest, pinning her, only made it worse.

Kuro's mind was racing. The scuffle had barely lasted 5 seconds yet here she was, apparently about to die, with a boot weighing down on her hard enough she could audibly hear her ribs creak, and all she felt was was a strange mix of primal fear and mind-blowing ecstasy, the S.O.D-induced enjoyment she found in death, even how own, apparently, combining with the instinctual need for survival and she couldn't help but let out of moan that was a strange mix of a grunt of pain and gasp of pleasure.

She looked up at the stranger standing above her. She tried to speak but it became a garble, as she couldn't decide whether to beg the stranger so let her go or to step on her harder.

Instead, the stranger spoke first.

"Look at you, all that LV, all the potential and not the faintest, foggiest idea of how to use it" he leaned down on his knee, putting his head closer to hears, and for the first time Kuro noticed the carnivorous and predatory eyes looking out from underneath the hat.

"Let me drop some wisdom on you; no one ever made it far in a place like Ebott simply by killing anyone that got in their way. You may think your little dip in that fountain of darkness made you strong, but strength alone won't take you anywhere. The graveyards of Ebott are full of guys that were stronger, tougher and smarter than you. You need guts, wit and power to get anywhere in this life. And frankly, I've seen Moldsmals with more of that than you"

Kuro slowly felt her sense and rage coming back to the fore, spurred on by the stranger's scathing comments. She tried to dig her talons in the boot crushing her to the floor – she would merely need to touch the skin for her lethal touch to save her – but the stranger saw it coming and the moment she tried she felt the pressure increase and her ribs bend, the sensation the sharpest pain and greatest pleasure she had ever felt.

"But you do have a gift" the stranger continued "One it so happens you can share and one it so happens I can make use off… and that so happens to be the only reason I don't do the world a favor and end your miserable existence right here. You want people to follow you? Then you need to show them more than a murderous lunatic. People follow ideals and dreams, not other people. Show them that and you've won half the battle"

Kuro felt the boot rise from her chest and she greedily sucked down the air that had been denied. She briefly lost it again as another kick sent her rolling and crashing into the locker.

"The stuffs' all yours. Do whatever you want with it. We won't see each other again" The stranger brusquely growled before turning and marching out of the alley.

"W-wait!" Kuro called after him, voice hoarse with choked air "Who the hell… are you?" she barely managed.

The stranger stopped, hands in his pockets. He was silent just for long enough for Kuro to almost ask again.

"You won't care" He stated matter-of-factly "Once, you might have been a person worth knowing, but now? You're nothing but desires and emotions unleashed and uncontrolled. You're little more than a wildfire, dangerous, but short-lived, nothing special. So go. Go and burn some stuff. Be a menace. Spread some chaos, my little wildfire" he finished before walking off again, rounding a corner, out of her sight.

"The hell…?" Kuro hissed, but found her curiosity at the stranger's identity and motive vanish almost as quickly as the stranger himself. A part of her found it infuriating having been made a pawn so openly and easily, but it was quickly quenched by the excitement she felt just thinking about what she could do with the stuff he had given her.

So what if he played some grander game she couldn't see! Now she had all she needed to really get her gang going. In a way he had given her even more than that, she mused.

Every good villain had a moniker, a title, a name, and now she had it too.

Very well, if the stranger, whoever he was, wanted a show, wanted chaos…

Then Wildfire was happy to oblige.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A conspiracy takes shape. Talk about enabling, huh?
> 
> Until the next. See ya in a week!


	6. Dark Days

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back at it again, although this time with a bit of bad news.
> 
> I said back in the first chapter that I would release a chapter every week on Friday for as long as I could, as I already had a few chapters written.
> 
> Well, I'm sorry to say we've reached the bottom of the barrel now.
> 
> Not to say the story is canceled. It's absolutely not!
> 
> But from now on, expect another week or two in between new chapters.
> 
> With that out of the way, let's get to it!

Asgore, carrying the sobriquet of 'The Grandest Thief" could be said to be a veteran of many heists. In his younger days, these were mostly aimed at stealing material wealth, but as the Mob grew and the city of Ebott took shape, money became less of an issue. Instead, his attention turned towards theft of information and data, to be used in blackmailing, negotiations, and information networking. As the mob grew, it even started becoming the target of heists itself from outside factions.

This was all something the Don had expected and planned for. The security around the Dreemurr Mansion was the best that money could buy and then some. But even so, no security system was perfect and even Asgore still hadn't seen everything the world of larceny had to offer.

When the Don had woken that morning a smell in the air had immediately assaulted his nostrils. Usually, there would only be the pleasantly sweet smell of his carefully cared-for Dreemurrdendrons and Hyacinths mixing with his morning tea being prepared by the staff to greet him and the queenpin in the morning, but this time an earthy, pungent smell had drowned it all out.

The source had quickly been pointed out by a flustered officer on guard patrol in the mansion.

In a remote wing of the mansion, used mostly for storage, a sight awaited him that would make even the most proficient magic-slinger question the ethics of magical usage.

Somehow, during the night, someone had transmuted the brickworks of an entire corner of a storeroom into a literal wall of cheese, yellow and holed as if ready for the fromager's table.

"A Light Emmental Milk Cheese" the patrolling officer pointed out "Still pretty raw and unfermented. I know this cuz' a girlfriend I had was a chessemonger as a hobby. Used to steal my socks and store cheese milk in it, hung 'em to dry over the fireplace… we broke up, she had bad breath"

Asgore nodded along, doing his best to keep up an air of authority but finding it hard to hide the sheer incredulity at what he was seeing.

The only logical point he could see was that whoever had turned the brick wall into cheese had most likely done so in order to break through it, as a large hole had been punched, and partly eaten, through the cheese wall, leading to the outside.

The great Don took a great breath, letting his mind settle down. It was important to maintain a look of composure in front of the goons. He couldn't let them know the cheese had gotten under his skin.

"Do we know what the thief was after? Has anything gone missing from storage?" he put to the guard.

"We're still going through the inventory, but so far, a few things are unaccounted for, boss"

"And why wasn't I or Toriel made aware of this sooner?"

The guard sheepishly scratched the back of his head.

"Well… I thought I was hallucinating when I saw it at first. You see, my ex is real vindictive and she sent me a block of cursed brie cheese the other day. Got a real deep breath of the sucker 'fore I realized what it was. When I saw the, uhh, 'cheese wall' I thought it was the curse poking more holes in my brain than a block of swiss"

Asgore dragged a paw across his face, filtering a great moan through his fingers.

"Good golly…"

"I'm scared, boss. I just want her to let me brie. She's up to no gouda"

"Never mind that" Asgore huffed "What do we know that's gone missing so far? Give me a rundown"

"Ah, 'course, boss" The guard cleared his throat and brought a list up.

"So far a good amount of weapons are unaccounted for. We're still not sure how many, but enough to equip a 2nd tier gang at least"

Asgore wrinkled his nose. An annoying loss, but the weapons trade, magical and physical, was already going strong in Ebott, adding another arsenal's worth was hardly concerning.

"Go on"

"We also have two explosives of medium-yield missing from volatile storage"

A chill went down the Don's back. This was a fair bit more concerning. Bombs that size could easily level a city block. His only reassurance was that anyone with the skill and panache to acquire bombs of that size most likely wouldn't waste them on a place like this. Blowing a place up in Ebott would hardly do anything more than get the Don't unwanted attention.

"There's also something missing from lab storage. An, uhh, some kinda apparatus that turns liquid into gas? Huh, I also get kinda gassy after beer or two" the guard mused.

"You can gas on your own time. Anything else missing?" Asgore rumbled, already having put the missing apparatus out of his mind, not worth being concerned over.

"Well, there's a few written works missing from the archive" the guard continued, flipping through the inventory list "So far we only know for sure of two things missing. Ones' a spellbook of… Tyromancy? The heck is Tyromancy?"

"The Magical school of Cheese" Asgore explained, softly scratching his chin in thought.

"Magical cheese, huh? God, you think it was my ex who broke in? Maybe she wanted the book so she could take control of all cheese in Ebott!" the guard jabbered fearfully.

"I… doubt it's that dire. But it does tell us something vital. This wasn't a break-in, it was a break-out"

"Huh, how so, boss?"

Asgore gestured at the cheese wall.

"Simple. Why would anyone who already knew tyromancy steal a spellbook on it? No, whoever broke in came from the inside, found the spellbook, and then used it to make another exit in the wall"

"But then, that would mean the thief is someone who has regular access to the mansion!" The guard gasped.

"Just so" Asgore sighed "Another day, another knife in the back. Anyway, back to what's missing. Go on"

"Ah, yeah, lemme squint my eyes here, uhh, 'Vital Motive Force Transplantantion For Efficient Diagnostical Efforts" by Toriel. Woah, I didn't know our queenpin was such an avid writer! I got her self-help book the other day, amazing stuff! You think I could get a peek at this when we get it back?... Uh, boss?"

A wave of apprehension and regret rolled through the don. Apprehension at what could happen now that such a dangerous work was unaccounted for and regret that he and Toriel hadn't destroyed the only remaining copy long ago. For all the incredible danger it was capable of, Toriel had found a sense of pride in its creation and convinced him not to destroy it.

It was extremely rare for his wife to make any kind of mistake, but when she did the consequences were always dire. This could very well be such a moment he realized.

"Uhh, boss? Something wrong? You're as white as bleached mozzarella" The guard's words broke through the fog of fear in his mind and he settled his gaze on him.

"Listen, I want Undyne on this, highest priority. Nothing else matters as much as getting that treatise back!" he barked.

"Woah, but, wh- what it is, boss?"

"Do you respect the queenpin?" He put to the guard.

"Wha-"

"Do you? Do you hold her in any regard?"

"Of course, boss. She's the sharpest mind in the gang to my knowledge. She even remembered my birthday!"

"… I'm glad to hear it" Asgore said lowly "but that's also why I can't tell you what it does. If you knew what my wife – our queenpin has done…"

"I… think I understand, boss. I'll get Undyne on the horn"

"Good… that's good" Asgore sighed deeply. It was still morning, but it still took an effort to turn his body around and walk for the door so drained he felt.

"Hey, boss! There are still a few things missing I haven't mentioned yet!" He heard the guard call after him.

"It doesn't matter" he answered back, unsure and uncaring if too low to be heard.

The morning's events had put him in the foulest of mood and only the prospect of a calming cup of morning tea stood as a beacon in the clouds.

But Don Asgore Dreemurr, Grandest Thief Alive, could only let out a groan of despair as he found a cup of cheese tea, prepared by the kitchen staff, on the breakfast table.

* * *

"Ahh, hot damn, tell you what, I thought nothing less than a hot bath and a cold one could get me up and running after 8 hours in a packet ship; I'm as saddle sore Gryftroot on Giftmass, but this tea is like a liquid kick-in-the-ass!" Levi the Leviathan exclaimed, kicking his feet up on the table as he gulped the whole cup in one swig.

"If you do not ssstart acting more sssensible to our hosssts, then I would be more than happy to help kick your assss" his serpentine wife Cleo hissed back at him.

Toriel gave a lighthearted chuckle, sitting across from the 2 guests in the Dreemur Mansion's parlor "It is of no issue, I should take Levi's relaxation as a compliment. A crass tongue is often rooted in a trunk of honesty, after all"

"Yeah… that" Levi coughed.

It had been some time since last the bosses of the city of Surripio had come for a visit, but each time they did Toriel was quickly reminded of just why they had been able to maintain a fruitful partnership for the past many years.

Happy marriages were exceedingly rare in this kind of life. Pragmatically, it painted a huge target on your partner's back and presented an incredibly attractive indirect way to get at you. She and her Fluffybuns had managed a good run at it, but so had Levi and Cleo, the similarity no doubt having helped foster their good relations.

While he might not have the same claim to infamy as Don Asgore, Levi 'The Leviathan' was still a force to be reckoned with as the world's greatest boss of Sea Smuggling. Some even said that every drop of water in every ocean of the world had been evaluated and judged by Levi, so complete was his control of Sea Smuggling

The dashingly powerful and handsome Lizard-monster had scales as deep blue as the oceans he played and eyes as green as sea-emerald, donning his trademark black suit with blue stripes, yellow tie, and hat with a blue stripe. Most likened the great smuggling boss as something akin to a water monitor, but rumors abound that the great smuggling boss's strength and magical might could be traced back to a dragon lineage, the boss himself saying little of the issue.

Of more obvious, and eye-catching, nature was his wife, Cleo. A black-scaled and golden-eyed serpentine beauty that struck an alluring balance between sleek and shapely just perceivable beneath a yellow dress.

That is, she usually did, but today's visit had seen Cleo with an unusually bloated belly.

"I apologize for my husband's absence. We had a break-in during the night he had to attend to, but he should be along shortly" Toriel gestured to the empty seat beside her.

"What, The Grandest Thief Alive got thieved from? Either something fishy is up or someone with more brass than brains is trying to prove something. Stupid either way" Levi snorted "Anyone tries and pull a fast one like that on us he's coming to dinner"

"Coming… to dinner?" Toriel quizzically tilted her head.

"Just so. That is, if my lovely wife still got room for dessert somewhere in there" Levi answered, giving a quick pat on Cleo's belly.

"Don't be ridiculousss, you think I could maintain thisss figure if I did that with every fool that came along? No, I ressserve that punissshment only for the essspecially dessserving"

"Like that guy that tried to spike the drinks at Val's birthday party" Levi nodded at her "I tell you, I've seen some big cockroaches crawling 'round the house but I've never seen a creep as big as him"

Toriel was still wide-eyed at the couple's casual declaration of cannibalism, something of an embarrassment for her as is it was hardly news for her, but the practice was so clashing with the stylish and fashionable nature of the Surripio bosses it always surprised her whenever it was brought up.

Thankfully, they had also provided a hook for her to change the subject.

"G-good heavens, I hope nothing bad happened to dear Valerie?" she managed.

"Eh, she's fine. Ain't no two-bit piece of bottom-feeding trash gonna come anywhere near my daughter s'long as I'm still breathing" Levi proudly declared.

"Which would be fine, if you didn't apply that moniker to anyone showing her at least a passing interest" Cleo retorted, her tail-end coming up to give her husband a light whack on the head.

"Oww, don't be like that! It doesn't apply to everyone, it's just… she's getting to that age and I don't want some sleazy shmuck to take advantage"

"You ssshould have some more faith in our daughter, sssh'es not as gullible as you might think. Giver her a chance to find her own way"

"But what if she gets burned? The world we live in ain't exactly, ah, conducive to a wholesome love-life"

"Then we have the meansss to show why crossing usss is a bad idea" Cleo answered, placing a hand on her belly.

"Heh, I suppose I would be pretty put off too if I knew that was a risk" Levi chuckled, turning his attention on Toriel.

"You should have seen it, Tori. After we caught the guy out we had him cornered in the boathouse. Little weed was bawling his eyes out, and he was screaming all they way down Cleo's gullet!"

"… I admit, that does sound like an unforgettable experience" Toriel coughed "If you need, I could get you some chamomile tea, good if you have an upset stomach"

"No thanksss, I quite like it when they ssstruggle a bit"

"I… see" Toriel finished, silently praying her discomfort wasn't showing, begging for something else to come up and steer the conversation away.

A blessing from the stars appeared as she caught a movement out of the corner of her eye, finding Frisk passing by the doorway.

"My child!" She burst a bit too eagerly at the welcome intrusion and she took a moment to compose herself "Won't you come and say hello to our guests?"

Frisk turned her head, face uncharacteristically sullen and shoulders low "Hey, Cleo and Levi" she slurred with about as much enthusiasm as a funeral attendee.

"Hey there, Friskerinno, long time no see. Still puttin' the 'awe' in 'lawyer'?" Levi waved.

"That'sss not how it isss ssspelled…" Cleo hissed.

"I guess" Frisk dryly retorted before glancing back down the hallway "I'm… gonna go to my room" she muttered, before during just that, disappearing out of sight.

Toriel couldn't help but furrow her brow in concern. Ever since her visit to Alphy's Lab, Frisk had acted strangely down, a far cry from her usually confident and upbeat self.

"I wouldn't worry too much if I were you, Tori" A voice as smooth as an oiled up serpent broke through her thoughts.

"If I were to wager a guesss I would sssuspect boy trouble. Our Valerie acted the sssame way" Cleo suggested.

"Hmph, I still think her last fling was about as deadbeat as a roadkill" Levi huffed "I swear if she finds another loser like that I'll-"

"Do nothing and allow our daughter to find her own way… won't you, darling?" Cleo cut in, flicking her forked tongue at the larger monster as if tasting prey.

"Eerp! Y-yeah, sure, I-I'm just saying I want what's best for her"

"More like bessst for your peace of mind!" Cleo hissed.

"Boy trouble…" Toriel whispered to herself. She supposed it wasn't possible. Frisk did have a reputation as a big flirt, and she was getting to that age. Still, she imagined that if a girl like Frisk was going through something like that, they'd be acting more awkward or shy, not sullen and withdrawn.

"By the way, Tori, I've been meanin' to ask" Levi suddenly began "If I'm not mistaken, lil' Frisk ain't lookin' to make a career or life outside of Ebott, is she?"

"If she ever wants, she would all the support we could give her, but no, not that she has told us"

"Well, in that case… look, I'm not one to tell a beekeeper how to keep bees, and it's really none of my beeswax, but-"

"Darling, could you please, _be_ a little more concise?" Cleo urged.

"Err, right, sorry. What I mean to say is… are you sure this is right for Frisk?" Levi finally managed, underneath his wife's scolding glare.

"I mean, with Frisk being what she is, and Ebott being the kind of city it is, is it… I dunno, perhaps a bit unwise to have her grow up here?" He put to her.

"Darling, your tact isss as lacking as your wit…" Cleo hissed at him.

"I don't mean nothin' by it" Levi hurriedly fired off "It's just, a lot of bad stuff can happen quickly in our way of life. One bad call and everythin' could come crumblin' down. I'm sure you and ol' Gore could handle it, but, y'know… maybe not Frisk?" Levi squeamishly added.

"That'sss it! No ping-pong once we get home! You-"

"I have entertained that very thought many times, Levi" Toriel cut-in before Cleo could really get going. "You are correct. If Frisk were anywhere else in Ebott she would come undone. Ours is a life that requires a certain amount of apathy, even cruelty. We know our actions hurt others, even if it benefits ourselves or those we care about. Frisk would never be able to accept such a compromise. My Fluffybuns and I… have considered, at times, to try and induce her into the life, but it would require us to ask her to go against her very nature, to harden a heart the world has rarely seen and to ask the unique become common"

"Then, why-"

"Because she knows all that" Toriel answered the question before it could be asked "I believe wholeheartedly that Frisk's innocence, unfitting to Ebott as it may be, is a strength rather than a weakness. She knows what Ebott is, she knows what kind of work we do, and she does not judge but neither does she partake. She has had every opportunity and incentive to cast her own code aside, to change to fit better into Ebott's mold… but she has not. Despite everything, it is still her"

"Huh, I think I get it. It takes a very special person to swim in an ocean without getting wet" Levi nodded acceptingly.

"Dear me, what wasss that? An actual sssagely remark and not your usssual crass or sasss?" Cleo replied.

"Well, if you wanna talk impressive, I can lick my own elbow too"

"…and there'sss the monssster I married..." she sighed.

"That's why ya love me, babe"

Toriel suppressed a small chuckle at the pair. She admitted they had a certain coarseness or roughness to them she couldn't help but admire. A slap-slap-kiss dynamic a small part of her perhaps envied.

But one thing that would always convince her of the rightness of her chosen life was what had brought Frisk and Chara into it.

* * *

Ebott had still been young then. A rising power in the underworld, but still fragile enough that she and her Fluffybuns had needed to get their paws dirty in order to survive.

On such effort had seen them trying to worm their way into the inner circle of the king of the neighboring country of Turol. With stolen identities, expensive and uncomfortable clothes, and, in Asgore's case, a quick crash course in royal etiquette, the bosses of the Dreemurr Mob had been transformed from unsavory thugs into the cream of society's crop.

Turol possessed a large amount of Hydro-electric and geothermal plants, even a few nuclear reactors built more out of vanity than need, which suited the Dreemurrs fine, as the goal had always been to get close to the king, obtain as much dirt on the royal house as possible and then use it to blackmail the get to redirect power and electricity to Ebott.

From the onset, the plan had gone swimmingly. Toriel's easy charm and graceful demeanor had disarmed practically every one of their intent, while Asgore's boisterous and affable exertions had seen them gain influence with the king that even many longstanding nobles would be envious of. By all accounts, their missions would soon be done and the lights of Ebott would finally turn on.

But then, the day before their planned break-in into the royal archive, the king of Turol had invited the pair to a public display. Taken to the town square, the Dreemurrs, the king, and his guards were let into a pagoda overlooking a raised wooden platform centered in the square and crowded by what seemed like half the town, and welcomed to fine drink and food. They were about to inquire as to the occasion when a great cheer rippled through the crowd.

A human child, no older than ten, was dragged up to the wooden platform by a pair of guards, struggling surprisingly much with the much smaller youth. He had all the looks of rough living – a tattered, green-striped t-shirt, mattered auburn hair and scrapes and bruises on his face and knees.

The guards managed to drag him to the center of the platform where they chained him to the floor with cuffs, in-between a barrel of a steaming, black liquid and a table laden with knives and cutting tools.

"A notorious sneak thief, burglar and pickpocket" the king of Turol explained "Always targets food stalls and shops and pickpockets the unwary. Normally, we wouldn't make such a spectacle of such an unworthy lout, but he has been going at it for nigh on years, enough that many businesses have lost fortunes"

"For years, you say?" Asgore had inquired, uneasy at the scene going down at the platform "That's… honestly incredible. He looks young enough he must have learned to pick a lock before learning how to walk"

"Impressive or not, he is just another vagrant turning his stained hand to the earnings of others instead of the plow, sickle and hammer and the honest work it provides" the king scoffed.

Down on the platform the guards retreated to the background as another figure stepped up. A large, burly, and brutish figure wearing an apron covered in old bloodstains and a black executioners hood.

"I wasn't aware Turol's capital punishment extended to children" Toriel mused, not entirely succeeding in hiding the disgust in her voice.

"It doesn't and this isn't an execution. Normally, thievery is punished with jail time, but given the extraordinary circumstances we've decided to turn to older methods this time around" the king waved a hand down at the scene, indicating the barrel and table.

"One hand will be dipped in burning tar, forever branding him as a blackhand and thief, while the other will be simply cut off, that it may never seek the gains of honest and good folk again"

"… pure barbarism and cruelty" Toriel hissed under her breath.

"You want to make an example… out of a kid?" Asgore asked.

"Just so. This way we show that no one, not even children, is above the law and beyond the reach of justice" the king nodded confidently.

Down on the square, the crowd was cheering eagerly as the executioner listed off the boy's crimes and what was to be done to him. And yet, despite the hundreds of people gathered and shouting, the boy's voice still clearly cut through, snarling at the on lookers, accusing them of hypocrisy and of punishing those down on their luck instead of solving the problems that had fostered them in the first place.

The executioner finished his recital and rounded on the table, going over the selection of knives looking for the best fit. The cuffed boy eyed an opportunity and, managing to get a leg out, kicked the table, shuffling the knives, one of which fell off and unto the executioner's foot.

The crowd exploded into a mix of laughter and boos as the executioner jumped around on one leg, but the king himself was less than pleased.

"A troublemaker until the end" he sighed.

"What's going to happen to him after his… punishment?" Asgore prodded.

"He'll be thrown back out on the streets, but with one hand short and the other an ever-painful reminder of his misdeeds I doubt he'll try anything untoward ever again"

"He is barely surviving with both hands as it is" Toriel noted "Without them, will he not starve and perish in the streets?"

"In all probability, yes. Not that having one less street rat and rascal in my kingdom troubles me overmuch" The king nodded, a faint smile on his face as the executioner finally regained his measure.

The brutish man rounded on the boy, sending a cruel kick into his ribs that collapsed him on the floor. He didn't let him stay and with a gloved hand, the executioner grabbed the boy's long, matted hair and smashed his face into the floor, blood now streaming down a broken nose and split cheek.

Then the executioner's hand tended towards a metallic shine close by, a knife fallen from the table, and an exceedingly rusty and jagged one at that.

The crowd held their breath as he held the boy's arm down and slowly drew the knife to his wrist.

"Well, your majesty, it's been a pleasure to make your acquaintance, but in light of recent events I think it's time we break off relations" Asgore suddenly quipped.

"Hmm?" was all the king managed before a large paw suddenly reached out and grabbed his face, lifted him off the floor and tossed him into a pole with enough force to send him into unconsciousness.

The two guards that had accompanied him sprung into surprised action, but a quick wave of Toriel's paw had seen their boots, the only part of their uniform made of fabric instead of metal, burst into flames, the guards now more occupied with a fiery dance than giving chase.

Without a word to each other the two Dreemurrs had leapt from the pagoda and unto the platform, the executioner only catching wise once he noticed the crowd's surprised shouts. He stood up from the boy and turned to face an incoming Asgore.

"What the f-" he gasped before the monster stomped down on his injured foot. He made to double over in pain but the thick forehead of the goat monster found his and he crashed to the floor, lights out.

All the while Toriel was kneeled down at the boy, a gout of super-heated magical fire melting the chains holding him to the floor.

"Worry not, young one, we mean you no harm" she cooed "Just a bit more and… there!"

The manacles fell to the ground with a clang, but if the boy's beatings and injuries made him appear dazed and weakened the truth was a whole other matter.

Like a cat out of a bag the boy jumped from his feet and raced off the platform faster than a Tem on fire, suddenly leaving the two Dreemurs as the sole figures on the stage and sole focus of attention for the crowd and guards.

Armed men were clambering up after them and the crowd, split between cheering at the spectacle and booing at the same, wasted no time throwing bottles and rotten fruits up at them.

Asgore and Toriel had shared a brief look, wordlessly reaching and agreeing on a decision.

They leapt from the platform in unison, bowling through a small gathering of the crowd before giving chase after the green shirt-wearing lightning bolt they had just freed.

The chase had seen them pursued from the better part of the inter-city market square, down through residential apartments, a long street lined with shops, a corner of an industrial district in which they finally lost the pursuing guards, before ending in a slum at the outskirts of the city.

Panting, gasping, and covered in sweat, the Dreemurrs had come to a stop in front of a small shanty hovel, the boy they had saved standing in the door, kitchen knife in hand as a warning. Behind him, a small bundle of clothes and blankets covering a sickly child.

Frisk was her name, and the boy, Chara. Two orphans that had lived on the streets for as long as they knew, with Frisk cursed with further misfortune as sickness had plagued her since birth. Only his older brother, Chara, stealing what he could had kept them alive.

To this day, Toriel's clearest memory of Chara was also her first one. The unbowing child, screaming his defiance at the crowd, one soul among many but blazing bright enough to drown out the hundred others.

But it was when they had found out their story that a life-changing decision, for both parties, had been made.

The Dreemurr Mob was built on the ideal of doing things outside the law not for yourself, but for those you care about, and it had amused her and Asgore to no end that the best example of that ideal had been found in the human boy, Chara and in a city outside of Ebott to boot. That he was an excellent thief was a bonus, but it was his utter and untamed Determination to protect those he cared about that had impressed them the most. So much so that rumor had it that Chara had even been considered as the successor to the Dreemurr mob.

Thus, the fierce Chara and sickly Frisk had been taken into the Dreemurr's care. Two unwanted spots disappearing from Turol's city life and two bright stars appearing in Ebott. The city would have to go without a stable power source for a few more months, but everyone in the know easily considered it worth the effort.

* * *

Ebott's port district was only really called so by the duplicitous or the unknowing. The only kind of sea-faring activity going on here was smuggling – illegally enchanted items, banned medicines, weapons mundane and magical among other things were sent out, while stolen goods of all types were imported.

Because of the valuable goods filling the port district practically 24/7 it remained the most hotly contested part of the city. The most powerful gangs under the Dreemurr Mob had their own jealously guarded warehouses, either leased from the main family, or conquered from weaker gangs. Even so, the port was filled with derelicts, - burned out, blown up, or abandoned office buildings and warehouses that had been the victim of gang warfare.

On this night, one such husk of a warehouse hosted an unusual amount of activity. Easily around a hundred monsters cluttered around a stage on the main floor of the building. From their sunken faces, dim eyes and low-end clothes the discerning eye could easily tell these were the gutter-class of Ebott. The lowest of low, the thieves and goons too incompetent or dishonest to make it anywhere in a place like Ebott.

"Ooooh, my wings are as thin as the wind, my soul as weak as impotent as my breath and my body as frail as a bubble. I really hope this intervention can help me become a stronger and better monster" A meek migosp among the crowd lamented.

An ursine monster to his side turned towards him, raising a confused eyebrow "Intervention? Think ya might've gotten the wrong address, pal. This is a presentation for a new business startup looking for workers and partners" he explained, turning back to the stage with a sigh.

"I really hope it's worthwhile, though. I'm so sick and tired of my wife and kids being disappointed in me…"

"Zzzzzz… that's not what my pamphlet says…" A rusty Knight-Knight suddenly added in.

"Mine says they are gonna…zzzzzzzz… hand out samples of some kind of new anti-rust spray and ask for feedback…zzzzzzz… sure hope I didn't waste my time coming down here…zzzzzzzzz… my armor is soooooo rusty…"

"W-wait, so we all have invitations to the same address, but for different things?" The migosp gasped and pulled out his pamphlet, sure enough, offering an intervention to the very warehouse.

The ursine and Knight-Knight did likewise, their confusion only growing as they found each other's invitation perfectly legit.

"What the…zzzzzzzz… heck?" the Knight-Knight snored.

As if to give an answer to the question, a great cloud of smoke suddenly exploded into life upon the central stage with a loud bang, sending the monsters nearest reeling. They barely had time to get to their feet before an eager voice called out.

"Welcome, welcome ladies and gentlemen, one and all! So glad to see such a Menacing Multitude of Meandering Monsters!" it welcomed. From out of the smoke, a figure to stick the voice on appeared. A female crow-like monster, clad in a magician's vest and short, fishnet stockings with heels, black gloves on her hands and topped by a magician's top hat. Her arms were thrown wide as if bidding the gathered monsters come close for a hug.

Even if the crowd's reaction was much more doubtful.

"Eek! It's a raid! We gon' get nabbed!" The ursine shrieked.

"N-no, no, please someone… help me…" The migosp sobbed, lying on the ground, its small heart consumed by fear.

"WHAAAA…zzzzzzz…AAAAAAT!?" The Knight-Knight shouted in shock.

A burst of booming laughter echoed from the stage.

"Be not afraid, darlings! Madame Wildfire welcomes you all! From the meekest migosp to the tiniest tem! I hear some of you wonder if this an intervention, a sales pitch or something grander! Fortify, honored audience, for tonight, you will be given all this and more! Everything you need to drop your fears and doubts and finally take what you deserve!"

"Oh… that doesn't sound too bad, I guess"

"I… I am filled with fear and cowardice. I want to be braver and stronger…"

"Don't know if there's anything more valuable than rust removal in this world, but if there is…zzzzzzzz… I want in"

"Everyone has a sob story!" Madame Wildfire boomed, performing a twirl on the stage as she pointed out, indicating everyone present "But you people especially are this city's most unfortunate. The downtrodden, the desperate, but also, I daresay, this city's most untapped potential! Ladies and gentlemen, I have gathered you here today because I have something to offer to those who have nothing. Something that will make you stronger, faster, and better than even biggest and baddest of the Dreemurr Mob! But, mes amis, we can't have an effect without a cause, so let's hear what brought you all here, looking to better yourselves!"

Wildfire launched into a summersault, landing at the edge of the stage, one arm reached out towards the ursine monster.

"Let's start with you, my furry friend, what has brought you to Madame Wildfire?"

The ursine took a doubtful step back for a moment, sharing a nervous look with others in the audience before finally composing himself, letting out a sigh, and stepping forward.

"Well, I… my name is Throm and… well, long story short I've been a failure and disappointment all my life. My parents tried to switch me out with another baby when I was born 'cause I was a runt, I once failed a blood test, my high school crush took her own life when I admitted my love to her, found it too demeaning that someone like me was thinking of her, you see" The ursine began "But as to why I'm here… well, present day isn't any better. I've never been able to hold a job for more than a month, keep messing up, no gang want's to hire me. It's gotten so bad my wife is constantly talking about her next husband and my kids are calling me by my first name. Too embarrassed to call me dad, you see" Throm finished, head low as he let out a lifetime of disappointment and regret.

A gloved, taloned hand landed on his shoulder and he looked up in surprise, finding Madame Wildfire in front of him with a confident smile and eyes that struck a cord between intrigued and crazed.

"You've come to the right place, friend. Just as some people are destined for success and greatness, some people are destined for failure and disappointment. But! The Hand of Fate can be forced… if you have the strength for it" she cooed, moving the hand on the shoulder up behind the ursine's ear "In fact, everyone has all the strength they need. They just need to know where to find it… like right here!" She eagerly pulled her hand back, withdrawing a small glass vial from behind the ursine's ear. A black liquid swirled inside the vial, seeming to drown out the light around it. She offered it out, and with a tentative paw, Throm took the strange vial into his care.

With a flash of motion, Wildfire somersaulted back onto the stage, arms wide in showmanship.

"Worry not, friend! You will all have your turn and I have gifts for each and every one of you! Though, I ask that you wait until everyone have been addressed before you, as they say, pop the cork!"

Another spin had Wildfire at the edge of the stage again, this time aiming her attention at a small group of elderly monsters.

"And what brings the golden gals and gents of Ebott here, then?" she offered.

The group shared nervous looks with each other before an elderly canine-monster stepped forward.

We are… an association of people that have been 'Left Behind' as the saying goes. Our pamphlet indicated you might have, as unbelievable as it sounds, a solution to this?" She explained.

A gloom quickly filled the warehouse. Even Madame Wildfire lost the confident showman's grin as she stepped back unto the stage, a hand over her heart.

"Ah, to be 'Left Behind', truly, there is no more fitting evidence as to the existence of fates worse than death" she quietly stated, turning to favor each member of the crowd with a sad look.

"As monsters, we are blessed with a life-bond that goes from parent to child. For as long as they live, the parents give their life-force to their offspring, aging them in the process, but allowing their children to grow to adulthood" she explained, turning back to the group of elderly monsters that had started the topic initially.

"But sometimes, fate is cruel. It stays its hand until it is too late. There are few worse fates for a parent than the death of their child, save perhaps for when they are too old to procreate again. That is to be 'Left Behind', immortality without youth, to be trapped in old, wizened bodies with no end in sight save for accidents, disease or their own hand" She kneeled down to the elderly monsters, giving a small bow.

"You have my sympathies. No one should have to go through all that"

The elderly canine looked back up with wet eyes, quaking voice affirming Wildfire's explanation.

"We don't even know what to do anymore. To not only live forever, knowing you let your child die, but to also endue each day with the pain of old age… there are many of us who have entertained the thought of ending it themselves, but… it is a frightening thought"

Wildfire nodded, a faint shadow of the former confident grin coming back.

"I can't bring the dead back to you, old one, but I might be able to help you with one of your problems" she quipped before reaching her arm out to the elderly monster and tipping her head, causing her top hat to roll down her arm. She caught it at the hem just as it reached her hand, the sudden arrest of motion causing a bundle of papers, the only readable part being the title of 'Vital Motive Force Transplantantion For Efficient Diagnostical Efforts' tied with string and a packet of the same black vials from before, one for each member of the group, to jump out, barely caught by the surprised canine monster.

"Don't worry, your fears are near their end, but as before I ask you wait until everyone have been addressed before you unwrap your present" Wildfire smiled, before turning back to the center of the stage.

And so the night went on. Madame Wildfire allowing each group and individual of the crowd to explain their regrets and failings, and her gifting them a vial of the black liquid and sometimes something more, a tool, a stack of papers or just a promise of something more 'after the end' she would smirk.

The stories were as varied as the crowd itself.

A Tem lamented its own foolishness.

A living stone embarrassed by having too much osseous matter.

A school student ashamed at being too scared to stand up to bullies for years on end now.

A Shyreen wishing her parents still loved her.

As the final address was finished, the morning sun had just begun sending its earliest rays through the thick and dirtied windows of the warehouse, bathing the room in a red hue.

Madame Wildfire twirled into the center of the stage, another vial appearing in her hand in the blur of motion.

"At last we've come to what we have all been waiting for, friends! I have heard your pleas, your regrets. You have exposed your doubts and weaknesses. Now, I say, it's time to do away with it all and take your place at the top of the food chain and this city!" she boomed, flicking the cap of her vial open with her thumb.

"You have all entrusted me with stories, but now I ask for one last leap of faith from you all. You all have a vial of the stuff dreams are made off, all you have to do now is claim it!"

She raised her vial high, and her voice likewise, pleased to see most members of the crowd followed suit with their vials.

" **Reject your fears, doubts and regrets! Embrace strength, certainty and power! Down the hatch, ladies and gentlemen, and show this city what kind of monsters you really are!** "

Wildfire eagerly threw her head back and downed the vial in one gulp, a shiver of revulsion going through her at the sudden realization it was practically her own sweat, not that ingesting any more of the mysterious black liquid that had given her her power would do anything for her, it was all part of the show.

And as she returned her attention to the crowd she was more than pleased to see that most had been taken in by her display, their desperate need for betterment in their life pushing caution aside.

Some of the more doubtful members waited a few moments, but ultimately everyone partook in the Stuff of Dreams.

Seconds passed in silence, the crowd sharing confused and uneasy looks with each other. A monster close to the stage was just about to speak up, asking what the vials were supposed to do to them.

But the question was answered before it could be asked. First, one monster doubled over, hacking and heaving as his whole being rebelled against the mind, body, and soul-altering substance already blackening his heart and coursing through his veins.

Then another.

And then another.

A panic broke out amongst the crowd but it was short-lived as soon everyone was down on the floor, pleading for whatever was happening to them to stop.

Kuro, as Wildfire, regarded it all with a mad grin, and she wasn't surprised to find that she had been so enraptured by the scene in front of her that she had been cackling for seconds without even noticing.

Slowly but steadily, the lights inside the monsters died, replaced by LOVE and all the strength it brought with it. Even the light inside the room dimmed as clouds passed over in the sky, as if the sun itself could not bear to look at the atrocity going on.

Almost a minute passed, the warehouse filled with coughing, wheezing, pleading, and screaming. But then, just as suddenly as the first transformation had begun, so did they end.

The first members of her new gang stood, confusion and wonderment in their eyes as they regarded their own hands. Strength and power now coursing through where before they here been only weakness. Their magic was stronger, their claws sharper, their bodies sturdier, their desires and ambitions unchecked, every sensation was amplified as was the need to acquiesce them

Some of the weakest monsters had not survived the process and small mounds of monster dust littered the floor here and there, but no one paid them any mind, too enraptured by their own change and the unlocking of the dark potential inside them.

Wildfire stepped close to the edge of the stage, already having picked out those who had taken to their change the best. Every gang worth their salt needed lieutenants, and every Dark Mistress needed capable servants.

"Now, ladies and gentlemen" she boomed again, looking over the crowd of reborn monsters.

"Whaddya say we rip this city a new one?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ack, I'm sorry to bring such disappointing news just as the story got going, but I am a lazy boy. Perhaps if I had me some of that S.O.D...
> 
> It might be a few weeks before the next chapter, but I still intend to release it on a Friday, so keep a lookout!
> 
> Until then!

**Author's Note:**

> Feels good to finally get the ball rolling on this. Been looking forward to it the past many months.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, and sorry if the chapter seemed a bit long. The next few should be roughly the same length, but after the introductions are done it should get a little more concise.
> 
> Anyway, have a good weekend all, and hope to see you next Friday!


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